Before The Past Repeats
by White Belt Writer
Summary: It was just a routine mission until Tigress finds a small child, then everything changed, including herself. Possible PoXTigress towards the end. WARNING! Contains slight spoilers for KFP 2!
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hi there! Thank you for picking my story to read!_

_This is my very, VERY first fanfic, so please try not to burn me to badly. ^^'_

_R&R_

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><p><strong>Before The Past Repeats<strong>

Chapter One

Prologue:

_It was raining, harder than it had for many years in the village._

_All of the citizens had locked their doors and windows, sitting around the fire with their families or crawling into bed to dream of the sunshine tomorrow would hopefully bring._

_All except for one._

_Moving from alley to alley, a small, lone figure runs; soaked to the bone with rain and out of breath from running._

_Its paws were sore, and its eyelids felt like lead, but still it runs until it comes to a dead end._

_Pausing to get its breath back, one of its ears twitches at something in the alley behind it: the pounding of feet and the panting of something much larger than itself._

_Panicking, the little figure quickly dives into a pile of crates on the side of the dead end, crawling inside of one of them, and holds its breath._

_The footsteps stop at the entrance to the alleyway before walking further in._

_The little one cowers in the crate as the footsteps come closer._

_Step by step the figure walks further into the alley, its glowing eyes trying to pierce through the rain, its nose sniffing at the air; like a hunter stalking its prey._

_Lightning arches across the sky as the hunter stops right in front of the pile of crates, sniffing, and dropping down to all fours._

_The hidden figure closes its eyes and prays silently to any god who would listen._

_Raising a paw, the hunter reaches towards the crate and-_

_BONG-BONG-BONG-BONG!_

"_The Village is under attack! The Village is under attack!"_

_The hunter flinches and retracts its hand._

"_The Village is under attack! Assemble the guards!"_

_The houses all around the alleyway begin to light up as screams of terror are heard from the south side of the village._

_The hunter looks at the crates, eyes ablaze with fury and a growl rippling in its throat before turning and dashing through the backstreets of the village once more, avoiding the awakened citizens._

_The little figure looks out as the hunter leaves, its heart pounding in its chest before it curls up once again within the crate and passes out from exhaustion._

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><p><strong><em>The Jade Palace of the Valley of Peace the following day<em>**

Due to the storm, the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior were forced to continue their training inside the Palace.

Or at least, that's what they were _supposed_ to be doing.

The sounds of grunting and the pounding of wood could be heard throughout the Palace, but it came, not from the Training Hall, but from the kitchen.

"Come on Po, you can do it!" Viper calls.

"A dozen cookies says he can't," says Monkey.

"You're on!" responds Crane.

Po grunts and pants, his facial fur drenched from exertion. Huffing and puffing he thinks, _'Come on Po, you got this, you got this! You-DON'T GOT THIS!'_

With a yelp, Po finds himself flipping through the air and landing in yesterdays dirty dishes as his friends look on and try not to laugh.

"Told you!"

"Oh shut up Monkey." Crane pouts.

"You're just upset because you owe me a dozen cookies. Please make sure they're almond ones, they're the best!" Monkey laughs as he balances on his tail.

Ignoring the two masters as they quarreled, Tigress and Viper walk over to Po's side as he starts to wake up.

Concern in her eyes, Tigress asks, "Po? Are you okay?" as she helps him to sit up.

Holding his head and moaning Po replies, "Did I win?" He tries to look at Viper and Tigress but immediately closes his eyes, as they seemed to sway and spin.

Viper, while smiling, says, "No, Mantis beat you at arm wrestling….again."

Standing up, Tigress turns to Mantis, who is standing on the table looking pleased with himself, and growls, "Did you have to beat him that hard?"

Mantis raises his….thingies in defense and states, "I tried to go easy on him."

Crane raises an eyebrow, "By throwing him across the room?"

"I said 'tried to' not 'succeeded to'." Mantis shrugs.

Po stands up (the room had decided to stop spinning), "Guys calm down, it's totally fine. No harm done," he claimed as he took his seat at the table again. "So-," a determined look on his face, "-give me one more chance Mantis! This time, you'll feel the true awesomeness that is the Dragon Warrior!"

A voice from the doorway spoke, "Oh, I seriously doubt that."

Jumping up with a yell from the table, the Furious Five and Dragon Warrior turn to find their master, Shifu, smiling at them in a way that said, _'I may look calm, but you're about to find out that I am not.' _In a flash, all of the masters were bowing to him, none daring to look Shifu in the eye.

"Well, my students, are we enjoying our time inside today?" Shifu asked them smirking. "Isn't nice to be out of the cold, hard wind and rain?"

The students remained quiet, knowing that voicing the wrong answer would make matters ten times worse than they already were.

Shifu continued with the same innocent look on his face, "What's wrong? No comments? No observations? You _do_ know that it is raining don't you?"

Po, feeling the pressure of his master's stare, finally broke his silence, "Yes, Master Shifu, but-OW!" He was cut off by Tigress smacking him with her tail…hard!

"Ohhhh, so one of you _does_ know that it is raining. That's good. But, since the rest of you don't, then it is a good thing that I have just received a new mission for you." Shifu's face turns hard, "While the six of you have been mucking about, a village due west of us has been attacked and taken over by bandits. According to the few citizens who managed to escape, the bandits attacked late last night during the storm and have locked everybody up inside their own homes. You are to go there immediately and see to it that all is made well. Understand?"

The students bowed again, "Yes Master."

Shifu points to the door, "Move out!" As one, the six warriors run out the door. As an after thought, Shifu yells after them, "AND NO SNACK STOPS!" He smiles as Po goes 'Ahhhhhhh' and retires to his room to meditate.

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><p>Hours later, after traveling non-stop since they left the Jade Palace, the Furious Five plus Po find themselves standing on a hill overlooking the distressed village. The rain had finally calm down from a torrent of water to little more than a drizzle, and the Village could be seen rather clearly…<p>

Along with the crocodile bandits who were roaming the streets of the town.

Po looks to the Five, cracking his knuckles as he asks, "So how do you guys want to do this? I am up for anything except-"

"Stealth." Tigress interrupted.

Throwing his head back and groaning, Po retorts, "Tigress, we've talked about my stealth mode; namely that I DON'T HAVE ONE-!"

Viper winds herself around Po's mouth to keep him from making any more noise as Tigress continues.

"I realize this Po…..which is why you are not going to be sneaking."

Underneath Viper's coils, Po could be heard going 'Huh?'

Eyes aglow, Tigress smiles, "You're going to be the distraction." Turning to the others she says, "Monkey, head to the north side of the village, Mantis the south, Viper you cover the west. I will handle this side. Crane, I want you to fly overhead. Po," she turns back to him, "Go into the center of town and on Crane's signal," she smirks, "Make them feel the thunder."

Po nods his head vigorously, nearly knocking Viper off, and gives two thumbs up.

"While Po draws the bandits' attention to the center of town we will attack them from behind, and take them down quickly before they think to use any of the villagers as hostages." Looking around at her friends, "Everyone understand the plan?"

Five heads nod in agreement.

"Then let's move." With that, they all silently move through the night to their positions and, wait for the signal.

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><p>'<em>What is taking Po so long?<em>' Tigress thought irritably. She was positioned right beside one of the eastern most houses, awaiting the signal to move. Just a few houses away from her were two croc bandits, lounging about and not paying attention to anything around them,

'_I know he's not the fastest guy around, but it's been over half an hour! Surely even he would be ready by-'_ Her thought was interrupted by Crane's call heard somewhere overhead. Not a second later there was a loud yell and an even louder impact that Tigress could feel even from where she was.

"_INTRUDER! INTRUDER!"_

Shocked into alertness, the two bandits jerk towards the booms location, and Tigress chose that moment to strike.

Faster than the lightning above her, she dashes towards them, taking them both out with a perfect spilt kick.

'_I wish Po could have seen that._' Tigress thinks with a smile, before shaking her head and refocusing on the mission.

She ran through the village on all fours, taking down every bandit she saw, hearing the cries of unseen bandits no doubt being taken down by the others.

As she neared the center of town, Tigress caught a glimpse of something running across the rooftops. Without a second of hesitation, she jumps off the wall and onto the roof, just in time to see the figure leap down into an alleyway.

'_Trying to escape, huh? Not a chance!_' With a grin, Tigress gives chase down into the alley.

The bandit, realizing he's being chased, attempts to lose the master by going down alley after alley, but to no avail.

Sure enough, Tigress finally corners the bandit in a dead end.

Growling she says, "Give up now and maybe I won't break your legs!"

Unsheathing the axe off of his back, the crocodile attempts to sound tough but fails miserably, his axe shaking terribly as he stammers, "Ba-back off c-cat, i-if you know wh-what's good for y-ya."

The bandit backs up as Tigress moves towards him, until he trips and falls over a pile of crates.

Tigress was about to pounce on him when she heard a cry from the crates.

Obviously, the bandit had heard it as well as he started to dig through the pile of crates. Before Tigress could make another move, the croc stood up with his prize in his fist; a young tiger cub, and a girl at that.

Gaining a wicked glint in his eye, the croc turn back to Tigress, cub still in hand. Pointing his axe at her, he says, "Well, well, well cat! Looks like I got myself a little hostage! Ha ha ha! What do'ya think of that!"

Tigress growls and crouches down to pounce, but the bandit waves his axe at her like a teacher would to an unruly student.

"Ah ah ah! I wouldn't do that if I were you! Unless of course-" he swings his axe up to the cubs neck, "-you _want_ me to give the kitty cat a nice little shave. Huh? Do you want that?" He asks with a sneer.

Tigress growls even louder than before, but stands up from her crouch nonetheless.

Laughing loudly, the croc continues, "Good girl… Now listen up! I'm gonna walk out of this village and you're not going to stop me," the blade of the axe moves closer to the cub's throat, "Or the girl gets it!" That said, the bandit begins to slowly move to the alley entrance.

Teeth bared and claws digging into the palm of her hands, Tigress races to think of a way to get the croc without hurting the child.

'_Damn, damn, damn! This croc's going to pay when I get my claws into him…how in the world am I going to get that girl away from him? I'll need a distraction…' _

The question had barely crossed her mind when the cub, letting out a tiny growl, twisted around in her captors grasp and latched onto his arm with her fangs and claws.

Yowling in pain, the croc raises his axe into the air, with every intention of bringing it down onto the poor cub's head; however as he did, he make one fatal mistake;

He took his eyes off a member of the Furious Five.

With a roar rippling in her throat, Tigress pounces on the bandit, seizing his axe with one hand and the cub with the other. Pulling the little tiger off of his arm, the enraged master leaps into the air and delivers a sound side kick straight to his head, followed by one to his gut.

The bandit flies through the air until the wall at the end of the alley stops him, leaving a crocodile sized dent in the stone.

'_Well, that was anti-climatic,'_ Tigress thinks to herself sighing, _'Oh well, so long as the cub is-OW!'_

While Tigress had been thinking, the cub in question, which she had been holding in the crook of her arm, began to thrash about with her tiny claws. Startled, Tigress dropped the child, who quickly ran back to her crate and crawled inside.

Curious, Tigress walks over and crouches down to see inside the wooden box. She finds the cub, scrunched up into as small a ball as possible, panting, and glaring at her with red glowing eyes.

'_That's weird…most children are excited to just see me, let alone after I just saved them. This one looks…scared.' _

She reaches inside to box, only to have the cub scoot even further towards the back and growl at her hand.

Tigress flinches, but reaches back towards the girl anyway. Just as she is about to touch her, the child bites her hand with her teeth, growling all the while.

Grimacing slightly, Tigress nonetheless pulls the still attached cub out of her box like a fish on a hook. Realizing what was happening, the girl lets go and tries to scramble back into her box, but Tigress catches her before she does. With both hands on her shoulders, Tigress forces the small cub to stand and look at her.

Speaking calmly she says to the still struggling cub, "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, calm down."

Speaking for the first time the girl cries, "LET GO OF ME! I'M NOT GOING BACK TO THEM, YOU CAN"T MAKE ME!" The cub thrashed around, but not a wildly as before, she seemed to be quickly tiring herself out, which didn't really surprise Tigress not that she got a good look at the cub. She was a South China Tiger like herself, but her clothes were worn paper thin and torn in several places, her fur was matted and dingy, and she looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks.

Bringing her face level with the cub's, Tigress asks, "Go back to who? Where are your parents little one?" In answer, the cub simply growled and fought Tigress even more weakly than before.

'_This isn't good. What should I do?'_ She asks herself.

While debating, Tigress barely noticed as the young tiger stops fighting her and becomes still. Focusing on the cub, she is forced to catch the girl as she falls forward into her arms. Flipping her around, Tigress sees that she's passed out and is breathing raggedly. Feeling her forehead, Tigress realizes that the girl has a fever.

Panicking slightly she thinks, _'Oh no! What am I going to do!"_

"Not going back..." Tigress hears the girl quietly mumble. As she looks into the cubs sleeping face, something within her clicks and she suddenly knows exactly what she was going to do.

Tigress stands up, with the child cradled in her arms like a baby, and sprints as fast as she could on two legs towards the center of the village and the rest of her friends.

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><p>AN: Da da da! There's the first chapter!

Thank you for reading and please R&R!


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Yay! Chapter 2 is here!_

_Hope you like it as well as the first one!_

_Please R&R!_

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><p>Chapter Two<p>

After racing through the village streets with her precious cargo, Tigress finally reaches the center of town and her friends.

The town square is a wreck, with bandits strewn everywhere and a small crater in the center, no doubt Po's doing.

Noticing her arrival, Po head butts the last remaining bandit before walking over, "Tigress! There you are!"

Viper slithers over and joins in the conversation, "We were starting to get worried."

Mantis zips in from nowhere and exclaims, "Guys, we have a problem! The head honcho ran off somewhere! He's an ugly guy with an axe-Tigress what are you holding?"

Holding up a hand to stop any more questions, "Don't worry about the chief, I already took care of him," she states with a slight growl. Gesturing to the cub that has now started to shiver, "Right now the most important thing is to find a doctor, this little one is sick!"

Without a word, Mantis, Monkey, and Crane shot off to try to find the village healer. Viper and Po meanwhile move closer to Tigress to look at the small child.

Viper is the first to speak, "It's a tiger cub!"

"What's it doing here? I thought this village was populated by sheep?" Po asks.

Looking at Tigress, Viper says, "Where are her parents?"

Shaking her head, Tigress replies, "I don't know…I found her in some old crates while I was chasing the chief," for a moment her voice is thick with rage, "He tried to use her as a hostage."

With a sad look on her face as she looks at the cub, Viper whispers, "Oh, the poor thing." Her face becomes determined as she states, "You two wait here, and I'll go see if I can't find her parents."

Before either master could utter a word, Viper is gone and they are left alone.

For a second they look at each other, then in embarrassment, look elsewhere.

Tigress blushes and mentally scolds herself, _'Idiot. What am I embarrassed about? It's just Po! Big, fat,' _she sneaks a glance at him, _'funny, nice, excitable...Po.'_

Lightning arches across the sky, with thunder following in its wake. The cub in her arms suddenly flinches as if she had been struck, bringing the attentions of both warriors back on Tigress' bundle.

As if waiting for the lightning approval, the rain, which up to now had been little more than a drizzle, started to pour down even harder than before.

At the change in whether, Tigress and Po move under the relative dryness of a nearby small awning.

A very, very, small awning.

It was so small, and Po was so big, that Tigress was forced to stand half in the rain. Noticing this, Po gets an idea.

Before Tigress could stop him, Po dashes out into the rain and over to one of the fallen bandits. He's back in an instance, carrying the croc's shield.

Standing right beside the awning, Po uses the shield as an umbrella. He was still getting wet, but Tigress was now completely out of the rain, along with the cub in her arms.

Smiling, Tigress looks at Po and says, "Thank you."

A giant grin plastered on his face, Po responds, "No problem! A little storm never hurt anyone, right?"

At that, lightning flashes and thunder booms again, even louder than before. The small girl flinches again, and even whimpers slightly.

Concerned, Po leans closer and asks, "Is she okay?"

Trying to ignore his sudden closeness, Tigress stammers, "I-I don't know…she has a fever, and she won't stop shaking." She pulls the cub even closer to her chest, trying to give the child some of her warmth.

Just then, the rest of the Furious Five return. Crane shields himself with his hat and wings while the others try to squish under the awning as much as possible.

Crane is the first to speak, "The villagers say that their healer went to the south to another village and won't be back for at least another day."

Viper cuts in, "And the village chief says that he doesn't know of any tiger families who live around here, and has no idea who this cub is."

Po starts to get jittery, "Oh man, no healer and no parents and this kid is sick! What are we going to do?"

"Po..." Tigress says calmly.

Wriggling about, Po goes on, "We can't leave her here! She could get struck by lightning and turn into a fried tiger cub!"

"Po."

"I DON'T WANT TO SEE A FRIED TIGER CUB-"

"PO!"

Po jumps and calms down, "Sorry…."

Sighing, Tigress turns to Monkey, "Can you go and see if the villagers will loan us a basket with long straps and some blankets?"

Monkey nods and move through the rain towards the nearest lit up house.

Mantis turns to Tigress and asks, "What do we need a basket for?"

"To carry this cub back home in."

Four shocked voices cry, "WHAT!"

Viper states, "Are you crazy! Shifu will flip if we bring her home!"

"Yeah he'll take one look at her and his eye'll go all twitchy like!" Po cries and demonstrates their master's likely reaction.

Glaring Tigress continues, "Let me deal with Shifu. Right now, we have a poor, sick cub and the nearest healer is at the Jade Palace." Her face turns hard, "I am not leaving her to die."

The four look at each other before Po smiles at Tigress and says, "No one said you were."

Tigress smiles back and smiles, "Thanks Po," just as Monkey returned with a large lidded basket containing blankets.

Shaking water off his fur, he holds the basket out to Tigress and asks, "Is this big enough?"

She nods and smiles, "It's perfect, help me put her in it."

As Monkey and Mantis held the basket, Tigress pulled out a blanket and wrapped the shivering child in it before putting the child into the basket itself and closing the lid.

The child safely stored away, Po asks, "Alright now who's going to carry her?"

Before anyone else could speak, Tigress said, "I will. I can move the fastest while carrying her."

Placing the bundle onto her back and tying the long straps around her in a way that wouldn't impede her movements, Po looks Tigress in the eye and says, "Don't wait up for us, just get the girl to the Palace as fast as possible."

Blushing slightly, Tigress nods and after listening to her friends encouraging words, takes off through the streets and into the night, making a beeline straight for home.

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><p>Two hours later, Tigress finally crests the last hill that separated her from the Valley of Peace and the overlooking Jade Palace.<p>

Catching a glimpse of the village lights, she puts everything she has into her sprint for home, her breath ragged from the effort.

Upon reaching the village, Tigress leaps onto the top of the nearest house, forgoing the streets altogether, and heading straight for the stairs to the Palace.

Her pounding paws went unnoticed by the citizens, who merely blew it off as thunder. The wind drove the freezing rain straight into Tigress' face but still she did not stop.

Making it to the stairs, she races up them, little more than an orange blur to any onlooker.

Up and up she climbs, not slowing down for an instant. She even leaps over the doorway to the tournament grounds rather then waste time trying to open them against the harsh wind.

Moving up the last flight of steps, Tigress slides to a stop at the doors to the Hall of Heroes.

Using all of her strength, she pries the great doors open and rushes into the Hall.

Shifu, who had been meditating here while awaiting their return, turned to his pupil and smiled, "Ah Tigress, you're back," he frowns and stands up as he notices she is alone, "Where are the others?"

Struggling to regain her breath, Tigress bows to her master and replies, "Somewhere-_huff huff_-behind me…Master-_huff_-I need your help!" As Shifu began to move towards her, Tigress removes the basket from her back.

Concerned at his students behavior Shifu asks, "Tigress, what is wrong-" and become speechless as she opens the basket to reveal the cub.

Continuing Tigress says, "She was at the-_huff huff_-attacked village. _Huff_-we couldn't find her parents-_huff_-and the village doctor wasn't there! She needs a healer-_huff_-NOW!" her eyes were begging him.

Shifu kept looking back and forth between the two tigers. He finally found his voice, "But how did you-where will she stay?"

A determined look appeared in Tigress' eyes, "She will stay-_huff_-here."

Shocked, Shifu stammered, "But-but-but-" his eye started to twitch.

Tigress noticed the twitch and laughed, "Ha ha…Po said…that you would…twitch…"

With that, her eyes rolled into her head and she fainted dead away next to the basket and its own sleeping cargo.

Snapping out of his disbelief, Shifu calls out, "I need a healer in here-NOW!" as he knelt down beside his foster daughter. After checking her vitals signs, he looks over at the sleeping cub.

Checking her signs as well, he noted that she had a fever and was terribly malnourished. Sighing he says more to himself than anyone, "Tigress must have run all the way back here full speed with you are her back," smoothing the fur atop the cub's head as she coughs, he murmurs, "I hope it she made it in time."

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><p><em>AN: And there's the end of this chapter!_

_I'm sorry that it's shorter than the first one, but I feel that stopping right here would do wonders for the suspense! ^^_

_Chapter 3 will be up in a few days!_

_Thanks for reading!_

_Please R&R!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you for reviewing!_

_You have no idea I thrilled I am to recieve such awesome reviews!_

_As a reward, here's Chapter 3! YAY!_

_Sorry if it gets a little boring at one point, but it had to be long to really "feel" right, y'know?_

_R&R Please!^^_

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><p>Chapter Three<p>

_It was playtime at Bao Gu Orphanage. Lunch had just ended, and all of children were brimming with energy and happiness._

_All except for one._

_Tigress was sitting in a corner of the yard all by herself, watching the young geese, bunnies, and pigs play from the shadows._

_How her heart ached to watch the other kids play with a ball of cloth. She wanted so badly to get up and join them, but-_

_Just then, the ball flew over the head of one of the kids' and rolled to a stop right in front of Tigress._

_Gathering up her courage, Tigress stood up from the shadows, smiled at the children and said, "I got it!" She moved forward, picked up the ball, drew back her arm, and tried to throw it back to the kids, but it didn't leave her hand._

_She tried again and again, but her sharp claws had gotten snagged on the cloth of the ball and wouldn't come off!_

_As she tried to pry the ball off of her fingers, the children, realizing what had happened, pointed and laughed at her! _

_Try as she might, little Tigress could not remove the ball, and as the kids laughed at her, her anger grew until she snapped._

"_STOP LAUGHING AT ME!" She roared and pounced towards the children, but as she tried to land on all fours for another jump, she slipped on the paw that still had the ball attached to it and ending up face planting into the dirt._

_The children were frightened nonetheless, and promptly scattered, shrieking, "AH! MONSTER!"_

_Tigress pulled her face out of the dirt just fast enough to see the last of the bunnies escape to the safety of the indoors. Spitting out dirt, she rose up onto her hands and knees and shouted after them, "I'M NOT A MONTSER!" _

_The once sunny day turned dark and foreboding as clouds covered the sky, and rain began to fall._

_Left all alone in the courtyard, Tigress could do nothing but curl up into a ball and cry, "I'm not a monster...I'm not..." as lightning flashed through the sky, followed by thunder. _

* * *

><p>"I'm not," Tigress murmured as she struggled to open her eyes. Finally getting them open, she focused on the ceiling above and vaguely wondered why it looked different than usually.<p>

Rotating her head to the left, Tigress notices sunlight streaming in through a window and realizes that she was in the Palace infirmary.

Chuckling slightly she thinks, _'As many times as I've been in here, one would think I would instantly know where I was without even opening my eyes.'_

Just as Tigress is about to drop back to sleep, she becomes aware that something, or someone, is next to the right side of her head. Turning in that direction, bracing for a fight, she comes face to face with-

"PO!"

The panda, who had been dozing with his head on his arms while sitting on a stool, instantly woke up.

"WAZUHAT!" he yells.

In an attempt to jump up into a fighting stance, Po manages to get himself tangled up in the legs of his stool, and promptly face plants into the bed's headboard before flopping onto the floor on his back.

As he writhed in pain, Tigress tries to get out of bed to help him-

And proceeds to trip in the sheets and join Po on the floor after a very ungraceful and extremely painful belly-flop.

Disoriented, Tigress tries to ask, "Are you ok?" but is stopped short when she realizes that she had landed on Po's stomach-

And that said panda's face wasn't three inches from here own!

Jade colored eyes stared into crimson ones as Po mumbled an apology, "Uh…yeah…I'm-I'm fine…"

As calm as Tigress seemed on the outside, mentally she was freaking out.

'_Oh. My. Gods! I can't believe this stupid panda is this close to me! We haven't been this close since after we defeated Shen and he hugged me!_' she thought as her heart raced, _'I have to get off him-NOW!' _but try as she might, Tigress could not get her body to move.

The two masters may have stayed like that for all eternity if Shifu hadn't barged in through the door just then.

"What is going on in here? This is the infirmary, _not_ the Training Hall." Shifu entered the room to find Tigress sitting on her bed, and Po getting up from the floor with a dazed…yet happy look on his face.

Eyebrow raised, Shifu asked Po, "What happened?"

Seeming to snap out of whatever trance he was in, the Dragon warrior replied, "Wha-OH! Um-I-I was…napping! Yes! And Tigress woke up and-and scared me and I-I fell off my st-stool and that-that's what happened."

A skeptical look on his face, Shifu stated, "Ah-well. Learn to be more aware, Dragon Warrior." Turning to Tigress he continued with a stern face, "It is good to see you awake Tigress, but next time please take more care when returning to the Palace in such a rough storm. I understand that the child needed medical atten-"

"The cub!" Tigress snapped fully awake at the memory of the child who she risked her life for, "Master, is she alright?" She tried to stand up but had to sit back down as the blood rushed to her head.

"Don't push yourself!" Shifu warned! Sighing he conitinues, "The child is fine. She is resting in the room across the hall. The healer said that after some rest and nourishment, she will be just fine."

Tigress and Po both sigh with relief. Remembering Po caused Tigress to realize that the others must have returned home as well. Curious she asks, "How long was I out?"

Po turns to her and answers, "Since last night. The rest of us got here a few hours after you did." A concerned look covered the panda's face, "When we arrived we learned that you had passed out and I-I mean-_we_ were worried."

Tigress couldn't help but smile at the worried look on Po's face, "It's alright Po, I just pushed myself to hard to get the girl here."

Shifu clears his throat, "Ahem, yes, about that girl, I'm curious to know how you found her; the details the others gave me were rather…slim."

Bowing while seated, Tigress replies, "Yes Master. We had just caught sight of the village and were deciding our course of attack…" and begins to tell her master the story of how she came across the small tiger cub. Upon mentioning the bandit chief, Tigress failed to notice that a slight growl built up in her throat.

Shifu noticed, but decided to stay silent.

She reached the end of her tale, "-realizing that her parents were nowhere to be found and that the village healer was absent, I placed the child in a basket and returned home. You know what happened next." Finally finished, and coughing slightly, Tigress was in need of some water, which Po was quick to give her a glass of.

Nodding her thanks, Tigress begins to drink as Shifu stands there; stroking his beard in thought.

Apparently done thinking he says, "Hmm, I see. Well , I commend you, Tigress, for your actions and bravery." He turns and begins to walk through the door, "Now-if you'll excuse me, I need to send Zeng to Bao Gu."

Tigress nearly chokes on her water, images from her nightmare flashing through her mind.

"BAO GU!" she sputters.

Shifu stops and half turns to face her. In a calm voice he states, "Yes, from what you told me the child is either separated from her parents or is an orphan. As such, as soon as she is well, we will send her off to Bao Gu where she can be properly taken care of until either her parents are found or she is adopted."

Leaping off the bed onto her feet, Tigress stares down her master. "Shifu please! We can't send her there! Bao Gu is filled with nothing but pigs, geese, and bunnies-they won't know how to handle her!"

Turning to face her fully, Shifu asks, "And where do you suggest that we _do_ send her?"

"Don't send her anywhere!" Her hard eyes turn soft for a moment. "Let her stay here," she pleads.

The red panda's eye twitches ever so slightly, "Here? Inconceivable! The Jade Palace is no place to raise a child!"

Soft eyes gone, Tigress retorts, "It wouldn't be the first time you raised a child-or a tiger cub at that!"

Twitching fully now, Shifu stammers, "I-I was younger then! I no longer have the energy it takes to raise a child!"

Po steps in, "We could do it!"

Both Tigress and Shifu snap their heads towards him and say, "WHAT!"

Holding his arms out, Po continues, "Come on! Think about! I'm sure that between five masters _and_ the Dragon Warrior we can keep up with one little kid!"

More twitching and stammering. "Bu-but, you don't the first thing about raising a child!"

Po shrugs, "Can't be that much different from teaching the Beginners class, right?"

"WRONG!" Shifu snaps, "It's ten times harder! You couldn't even begin to understand the enormous responsibility that comes with parenthood!"

"Then teach us how!" Tigress intervenes.

Po excitingly says, "That's perfect!" To Shifu he exclaims, "Between your experience and our energy, we'll kick parenthood's butt!" With that Po begins to dance in place in that fan boy way of his. "Pleeaaasse Shifu! Can we keep her! PLEASE!"

Shifu looks back and forth between Po's antics and Tigress' serious face.

Neither showed any sign of backing down from this crazy idea.

Eventually, Shifu sighs his defeat and mumbles as he massages the space between his eyes, "I cannot believe I am saying this," To his students his says, "Very well she may stay, but you are in-_oomph_!" His speech is cut short as Po more or less tackles him into a bear hug and proceeds to spin around the room, saying "WHOO-HOO" and a lot of 'thanks you's.

Growing tired of these antics, Shifu stops Po's spinning by flipping him onto his stomach and pulling his arm behind his back.

"As I was saying, _panda_," Shifu spits out, "The girl may stay, but she is the responsibility of the Furious Five and yourself. Do I make myself clear?" to emphasize his point, Shifu bends Po's arm back even further.

Yelping in discomfort, Po hurriedly says, "YOW! You're clear! Soooooo clear!"

Shifu smiles, "Good," and lets go of Po's arm. Hopping of the panda, Shifu turns to Tigress and says, "The same goes for you Tigress. But remember this," his eyes turn serious, "The second that girl becomes a problem, she goes straight to Bao Gu. Understand?"

Tigress stands at attention and bows, "Yes Master!"

Shifu nods, "Good. Speaking of which, it is past noon. Go down to the kitchen and get some food for both the girl and yourself, and see to it that she gets it." As she bows, Shifu turns to Po, who is still on the floor, and says, "And your job is to make sure that none of her food goes _missing_." He prods Po large gut with his foot in example.

Po grumbles, "Yes Master," and proceeds to get up off the floor for the second time in as many minutes.

After Po finally gets up and bows, Shifu then says, "You are dismissed," and watches as his two students make a dash for the kitchen.

After they leave, Shifu can't help but think, as he massages his temples, _'This is going to be the biggest mess to ever happen to this Palace since Po was named the Dragon Warrior.'_ Sighing, he treads out of the room and heads to the Hall of Heroes for some meditation.

Something told him that he was going to need it. Badly.

* * *

><p>Carrying two bowls of rice on a tray, Tigress makes her way back to the infirmary, towards the room where the little girl was staying. She comes to a stop right outside her door.<p>

After standing there for a minute, she mentally scolds herself, _'What am I afraid of? It's just one little girl. A little girl that I found in a pile of crates. Who might not have any parents..'_ Tigress violently shakes her head.

'_Stop that! That doesn't matter right now! What matters is she is safe and is about to get food!'_ She looks down at the tray, _'Which is getting cold while I stand out here talking to myself.'_ Taking a steadying breath and balancing the tray in one hand, Tigress opens the door to face-

An empty bed!

She drops the tray in shock and only her lightning fast reflexes keep it and the bowls of rice from hitting the floor and shattering. Nearly panicking, she places the tray on the bedside table and takes a deep breath.

Letting it out she thinks, _'Calm down, calm down…she's just a little girl…she couldn't have gone far…out the window maybe?'_ She leaps over the bed silently, not bothering to walk around it, and checks the window.

It's closed and it's easily a ten foot drop to the ground below. Tigress sighs in relief at the absence of a cub body beneath the window.

'_Okay, there goes that theory. But where could she be?' _Before she could wonder any longer, Tigress catches the sound of claws against wood.

Turning around, she strains to hear it. It sounded like it was close and-yes! There it is again! And it's coming from-

Under the bed!

Tigress walks over to it slowly, not wanting to frighten who she thought was underneath. She kneels down, lifts up the covers, and sure enough-there she was, curled up right in the middle of the bed, her eyes glowing as she glared at Tigress.

Sighing again, Tigress asks, "What are you doing under the bed?"

The cub only growls in answer and scoots farther away from her towards the wall.

Somewhat miffed at this reaction, Tigress continues, "Come out of there."

The girl shakes her head and says, "Mm-mm!" in that annoying way that children can.

Slightly annoyed now, she ordered, "Young lady! Come out from under there right now!"

At that the cub growled again and said, "You're not my mom!"

Ticked off now Tigress thought to herself, _'Why you little-that's it! If she won't come out on her own, then I'll make her!'_ With that Tigress proceeds to try and get the cub out by force, but try as she might, her arms couldn't reach her!

The fact that the cub kept sticking her tongue out at Tigress wasn't helping either.

After a few minutes, Tigress gave up, and sat cross-legged next to the bed with her head resting in her hand, her tail twitching back and forth behind her, and tried to think of a way to get the girl out from her hiding place.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and Po's voice rang out, "Hey Tigress! Can I come in?"

A grin appeared on Tigress' face at the sound of Po's voice but she quickly wiped it off as she answered, "Come on in Po."

Po entered…and the grin he had on his face promptly vanished when he realized that the rooms' supposed occupant was nowhere to be seen.

Po started to ask, "Where's-" but was cut off by Tigress' hand pointing a finger under the bed. Leaning over, he said, "Oh."

Tail still twitching, Tigress replied, "She refuses to come out and I can't reach her."

Walking over and sitting on the other side of the bed, Po says, "Let me try." With that he leans over and speaks to the little girl in his nicest voice with his usual goofy grin.

"Hi there!"

Same as with Tigress, the cub simply growls and scoots away.

Unfazed, Po continues, "My name is Po," he gestures to Tigress, "And this is Tigress. What's your name?"

The girl simply glares at him.

"Not the talking type, huh? That's fine! I'll talk enough for the both of us!"

Tigress couldn't resist.

Leaning over and smirking, she said, "Po, you talk enough for a whole village!"

Po pouts, "I do not!"

"Yes, you do. Master Shifu said that when you entered the Hall of Heroes for the first time, you went around and talked about every single item in there without taking a breath!"

Po opens his mouth to retort, but stops and smiles sheepishly instead, "Ha ha, yeah I kinda did…but _come on!_ It's the Hall of Heroes! Where all the coolest stuff is kept! How could I _not_ geek out at the sight of it all?"

Tigress nods, "True, especially knowing your love for all things kung fu."

"You know it! But that's beside the point!"

Raising an eyebrow Tigress asks, "Which waasssss?"

Po's face drops then scrunches up in concentration as he struggled to remember what they were talking about. "Uhhhh-OH YEAH! We were talking about how this girl wasn't a talker!" At this moment, Po's stomach decides to growl.

Tigress smiles knowingly, "Unlike your stomach, which loves to talk at all hours of the day!" Her teasing is cut short as her own stomach growls; she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday before they left for the village.

Po laughs, "HA HA HA! Look who's _talking_ now!" He laughs so hard that he manages to bang his head on the underside of the bed, causing the girl hiding underneath it to giggle as he rolls onto his stomach groaning in pain.

Holding his head, Po says triumphantly, "AH-HA! And so the mighty Dragon Warrior gains the trust of a little cub! VICTORY IS MINE-OW!" In his excitement, Po hits his head on the bed-

Again!

Tigress barely holds back a giggle of her own. "I'm pretty sure she was laughing _at_ you, not _with_ you Po."

Po waves her remark away as his stomach grumbles again, "Oh shush, a laugh is a laugh. Now-if you'll excuse me, my stomach is calling me!" With that, Po reaches up and brings down one of the bowls of rice along with a pair of chopsticks, licking his lips all the while.

"Po-put that bowl back now! One of those is mine and the other is the little girls'." Tigress said with a slight growl.

As if on cue, a small growl is heard from the girl in question, for once not coming from her throat, but her stomach.

Po laughs, "Sounds like you're hungry! Why don't you come out from under there and help me finish these bowls of rice?"

Before the girl can answer Tigress steps in and glares at the panda, "What do you mean 'help me finish'? Those are _not_ for you Po!"

Pouting the panda replies, "Says who?" About a second later it dawns on him that he just said that to a member of the Furious Five-

And the one who enjoyed beating him up to boot!

He stammers an apology as Tigress begins to tell him off. While they talk, a little pair of eyes moves back and forth between the two, listening to their banter. Eventually, the little girl can't help but laugh at the two grown-ups who were arguing under a bed!

As she laughed, the two masters turn their attention back to her.

Immediately forgetting the telling off Tigress had been giving him, Po smiles and says, "What a pretty laugh you have! I don't know why you didn't laugh sooner. You should do it more often!"

The cub instantly stops laughing, curls up tighter and says nothing.

Po presses on, "How about you come out and eat something, hmm?"

At first the girl says nothing, but slowly and timidly, she starts to scoot towards Po and the food in his hand.

She stops just short of the edge of the bed, pauses, then quick as anything moves back to her original spot, glaring and shaking her head.

'_Why that ungrateful little-'_ Tigress opens her mouth to say something but is stopped by a look from Po.

Still smiling, the panda says to the girl, "Still pretty shy, huh? That's cool!" He places the bowl with the chopsticks in it on the floor, "I'll just leave this here, okay?" The girl just stares at him. "Alrighty then! We'll just leave now." That said, he stands up and picks up the tray with the remaining rice on it and heads for the door.

"Come on, Tigress!" he calls back over his shoulder.

Stunned at this turn of events, Tigress nonetheless, gets off the floor, hops over the bed again and joins Po out in the hallway.

After he closes the door, she tries to ask, "Po, what are-" but his hand cuts her question short.

Holding a finger to his lips he gestures for her to listen towards the door.

The two of them stand there for a minute when finally they heard something.

They heard the sound of something moving, almost hesitantly at first, then quickly. Chopsticks tapping against the bowl could be heard, followed by the distinct sound of hurried eating.

Po smiles and moves down the hall, followed closely by a perplexed tiger.

Catching up to him, she asks, "How did you do that?"

Po looks at here, "Do what?"

She gestures over her shoulder, "That! How did you get her to trust you like that?"

He smirks, "I wouldn't say she trusts me yet, but what I did was just something my Dad used to do. Whenever I was tense or mad or whatever, he would make me laugh and I would calm down." He laughs, "Works like a charm, every time!"

Tigress stares at Po before smiling and shaking her head. Leave it to Po to solve a problem with laughter. At the sound of chewing, Tigress looked back up-

To find Po eating her rice!

"PO! THAT WAS MY LUNCH!" She growled and started to chase him as he ran away, laughing and eating all the while!

* * *

><p>And there's the end of the chapter!<p>

Will the little girl ever trust Tigress?

Will Po and Tigress get tegether!

What is the girl's name!

All of these questions and more will be answered next time on:

Total. Drama! PANDA!

...

Wait...

what?


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Here's chapter 4!_

_Hope you like it!_

_Please R&R!_

* * *

><p>Chapter Four<p>

Tigress was in the Training Hall when Viper found her.

She was sitting atop one of the Wooden Warriors eating her lunch.

Or at least what a certain panda hadn't already eaten.

Slithering up to the edge of the pit, Viper asks, "Tigress, have you seen Po?"

With a somewhat miffed look on her face, Tigress replied, "Check the bottom of the stairs, he should have landed by now."

Viper sighs, "What did he do this time?"

Mouth full, the master grumbles, "Tried to steal my lunch."

Eyeing Tigress' seat of choice Viper goes on, "And you're sitting in the middle of the Obstacle Course because…."

She swallows, "So that if he tries to come back for more he'll have to go through this," gestures to the course, "first."

Looking between the course and her friend, Viper 'hmms' and continues, "But that's not why you're upset, is it."

Tigress simply eats her food and looks everywhere but at the snake.

Rolling her eyes, Viper tightens her coils and bounds into the air, landing on the head of the warrior in front of Tigress, spinning around on it until she comes to rest facing her.

"Come on Tigress, tell me what's wrong."

The proud tiger stammers, "Wrong? What? Noth-nothing's wrong! I'm just….mad that Po ate half my lunch, that's all!"

The snake presses on, "Tigress, I know you well enough to know that you're upset about something and it's not that Po ate your lunch," she smiles, "after all he does that at least once a month, if not a week." She turns serious again, "Now, are you going to tell me what's _really_ bothering you, or am I going to have put you into a hold and make you tell me?"

Not fazed in the slightest, Tigress retorts, "I can handle any hold you put me in and you know it," as she takes another bite of her rice.

Undaunted, Viper says, "True, you are good at holding out against my holds," a wicked look comes over the master's face as she says in a singsong voice, "but not Shifu's!"

Tigress chokes on her rice. After finally getting the offending food out of her windpipe, she glares at the snake with a mix of horror and anger, "You wouldn't!"

Viper turns around, and gets ready to jump out of the pit, "If you won't tell me, maybe you'd rather tell Shifu. Wait here, I'll go get him!"

She jumps, but before she gets very far, Tigress grabs her tail with a cry of 'No!' and brings her back down onto her seat.

Looking innocent, Viper turns to her friend, "What? You _don't_ want me to tell Shifu? I had no idea!"

Tigress hangs her head in defeat. _'I hate it when she does this…'_ she thinks to herself. To Viper she says, "Ok, ok, I'll tell you what's wrong just please don't tell Shifu."

Coiling herself back into position, the snake replies, "Wouldn't dream of it."

Tigress mumbles, "Sure you wouldn't."

"So, what's wrong?" the concerned master asks.

Sighing, Tigress says, "It's the cub."

"What about her?"

"She doesn't like me."

"What makes you say that?"

The tiger makes a sad face, "Every time she sees me, she always growls and tries to stay as far away as possible," she brings her knees to her chest and puts her head on top, "she won't even tell me her name…"

"Oh Tigress….I don't think she hates you, she's…" the snake struggles to find the right words, "She's probably just a bit scared right now."

Tigress ears flatten, "Of me?"

Viper is quick to correct herself, "Nonono! Not of you! I mean of all this," she gestures to their surroundings with her tail. Going back to Tigress she says, "She's in a strange place with strange people, I'd be surprised if she _wasn't_ a little scared right now."

Tigress nods, but doesn't look convinced.

"Furthermore, why do you care what she thinks of you?"

Shocked at the question, Tigress stammers, "I-I don't! I mean…" her ears fold down, "I don't know…i-it's just that…for some reason I just want that little girl to like me…"

Viper smiles and sighs at her feline friend. _'To think that Tigress is concerned about what a little girl thinks of her…'_

Shaking her head, she puts her tail upon Tigress' paw and says, "Well she's not going to grow to like you if you just sit there like a bump on a log!" Viper tosses her head towards the door, "Come on! Let's go see if we can go learn her name, huh?"

She tenses and leaps over Tigress' head, landing safely at the edge of the pit.

Smiling at Tigress she adds, "Besides, I haven't been properly introduced to her yet!" With that, the snake begins to make her way out the door and towards the infirmary.

Tigress sits there, bewildered for a split second, before smiling and dashing out of the pit to catch up with her fellow master, leaving her unfinished lunch on top of one of the warrior's heads.

* * *

><p>Soon the two friends were standing outside of the child's door.<p>

Viper was looking at Tigress expectantly, and Tigress was just staring at the door; a tense look on her face as her tail swished back and forth nervously.

Viper breaks the silence.

"Are you trying to open the door without touching it, or are you just nervous?"

Breaking out of her trance, Tigress looks down at Viper and says, "I'm not nervous! I'm just…."

"Nervous."

The tiger shushes the snake, before taking a breath and opening the door to a once again empty bed.

Viper starts to panic, "Wha-where is she!"

Tigress simply rolls her eyes, "She's probably still under the bed."

Slithering over and sticking her head under the bed, Viper immediately pulls it back out with a shocked look on her face.

"She's not under here!"

Tigress roars, "WHAT!" before diving under the bed and seeing for herself-

That it was completely empty save for a licked clean bowl and a pair of chopsticks.

Nearly hyperventilating, she pulls her head back out, stands up, and tries to think.

'_Calm down, she couldn't have gone far, maybe out the windo-wait didn't I already go through this?'_ She holds her head and growls slightly. _'AGGGH! When I get my hands on that girl….got to find her first!'_

Turning to Viper she orders, "Go and tell the others, I'll start looking for her! She can't have gotten far since I last saw her!"

Nodding at her assignment, Viper slithers off to find the rest of the Furious Five and Po.

Tigress meanwhile tries to stay calm.

_'Calm down, calm down, cal-WHY DO I KEEP SAYING THIS! IT'S NOT LIKE IT HELPS!'_

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Tigress gets to work finding the child.

She grabs the blanket the girl slept with, holds it to her nose, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath and lets it out. _'Rain, dirt, a little sweat…she's still wearing those dirty clothes…' _She takes another breath, _'…the barest hint of jasmine and…fear…'_

Letting the blanket fall, Tigress drops to all fours and begins sniffing around the bed. Seeming to find something, she makes her way towards the still open door. When she reaches the hallway, the tiger's eyes snap open.

A determined look on her face, Tigress begins to bolt down the hallway on all fours. She follows the scent of the girl down the hall, out the door leading outside, and down the path towards the tournament area and the Thousand Stairs.

Arriving at the top of said stairs, Tigress doesn't hesitate to jump straight over the edge, hitting the stairs running before jumping a second time and landing on all fours at the base of the mighty staircase.

She follows the girl's scent down to the village, over the bridge, and going straight before veering to the left suddenly-

Straight into Mr. Ping's Noodle Shop!

The trail was still fresh, and only led into the restaurant once, so Tigress was sure that the cub was still within its walls. Marching straight in, the kung fu master ignored the shops' patrons and followed the scent right back to the kitchen.

Sure enough, sitting on a stool not four feet away from Mr. Ping himself with a bowl of noodles in her hand was the runaway tiger cub; broth running down her chin as she drank the delicious soup.

Pausing to catch her breath, Tigress caught a whiff of the goose's famous dish and her stomach promptly grumbled; still hungry since Tigress had yet to eat a proper meal after waking up.

Alerted by this sound, both Mr. Ping and the cub turned to look at her and became aware of her presence.

Smiling as always, the goose greeted her.

"Ah, Master Tigress! What a pleasant surprise! Was that your stomach? My goodness, for a second there I could have sworn that my son had dropped by for a visit!" The old cook laughed.

Tigress decided to ignore the remark about how she sounded like Po, and tried to explain why she was here to the goose. "That's very funny sir, but I came her for-"

Mr. Ping interrupts her by waving his wing, "Say no more, say no more, I know exactly why you came here!"

Tigress is surprised, "You do?" To herself she thinks, _'Maybe this bird wasn't as bird-brained as I thought…'_

Said bird continued on, "Yes, of course! You are here for," he pauses for dramatic effect,

"A bowl of my Secret Ingredient Soup!"

_'Or maybe not.'_

Trying to correct the cook, Tigress tries to say, "No, that's not why I'm here," but her stomach beat her to the punch, growling even louder than before.

Smiling, Mr. Ping replies, "Your stomach says otherwise, ha ha, just like my Po." His eyes have a far off look in them, and miss Tigress' wince at being compared to Po again.

Coming back down to earth, the goose waves his wing at Tigress and gets back to work, "Just pull up a stool next to this young lady and I'll have your soup ready in a flash!"

Having no choice but to obey the 'enthusiastic' bird, Tigress sighs and grabs a stool from one of the outside tables and takes a seat right next to the cub, who refuses to look at her and focuses only on her bowl, a stubborn look on her face.

As Mr. Ping worked on Tigress' 'order', she asks his back casually, "Soooo, how did you come across this little girl?"

Talking as he worked, the cook replied, "I found her wandering the street outside of my restaurant not too long ago. Poor thing looked half starved, and after raising Po I can't stand to see a starving child," he chuckles to himself, "Or a starving adult for that matter. So, I brought her back here and gave her some soup. She's on her second bowl right now! Such an appetite!"

Tigress glances down at the cub, who was still staring stubbornly at the bottom of her bowl. Looking back at Mr. Ping she says, "Did she tell you her name by any chance?"

"No, she didn't. As a matter of fact, she hasn't spoken a word to me yet….although that is probably because her mouth has been too full of noodles!" The goose laughed at his own joke as he handed Tigress her bowl. "It's only a matter of time, really," noticing that the girl's bowl was empty, he kneels down (not very far since they are about the same height), looks her in the face and asks, "Would you like some more?"

The cub nods stiffly once before holding out her bowl.

Mr. Ping laughs as he takes her bowl. "I thought as much," He refills the bowl and hands it back to her, watching in amusement as she tucks into it, "Such an appetite."

Glad that the child is eating, Tigress begins to eat her own noodles, sighing in delight as the taste of it hits her tongue. As soon as she swallowed the first bite, the tiger realizes just how hungry she really was and began to eat with a passion.

She had just begun to drain the broth into her mouth when suddenly-

"HEY TIGRESS!"

At the sound of her name, the kung fu master chokes on the soup, some of it splashing out of the bowl and onto her vest.

Looking down at the mess she thinks, _'That's the third time today I've choked!_' She sighs, _'I'm starting to get the feeling that someone above does not want me to eat peacefully today.'_

Lifting up her head, Tigress glares at the one who caused her to choke. Sure enough, standing in the doorway, huffing and puffing is the Dragon Warrior himself-Po.

Still breathing hard, he says, "Sorry-_huff_. Was climbing-_huff huff_- back up the-_huff_-stairs-_huff_-and saw-_huff_-you fly-_huff_-over me. Followed you-_huff_-back here. Oh man-_huff huff_-I hate-_huff_-those stairs-_huff_-whew!"

Finally getting his breath back, he asks, "So, what's up?"

Flicking excess broth off her left hand, Tigress jerks her right thumb at the cub. "She ran away from the Palace."

"What!"

"Ran away?" Mr. Ping says. Kneeling in front of the cub he asks her, "Is this true dear?"

The girl said nothing, staring at her once again empty bowl.

Looking from the girl, to the bowl in her hands, to Tigress and the one in her lap, Po smiles in understanding.

"Heh heh, let me guess; you came down here looking for the girl and found my Dad giving her noodles. When you tried to explain why you were here Dad assumed you were here for some noodles and after that you couldn't get a word in edgewise so you just sat down and let him serve you soup. Am I right?"

Tigress stared at him and nodded, amazed that he managed to grasp the situation so quickly.

Mr. Ping looked at Tigress quizzically, "You're not here for noodles?"

Po cut in, "No Dad, she's here looking for this little girl. Look; long story short, this girl is staying with us at the palace for a while and we're in charge of her."

"Ohhhh, well why didn't you say so!" Mr. Ping said to Tigress.

'_Because you wouldn't let me!'_ Tigress thought.

To the goose she said, "Thank you for watching her Mr. Ping, and for the noodles. If it's alright, I'll pay you later-"

"Ap-ap-ap! No! I won't accept a single coin from your hand, Master Tigress," the goose said seriously before breaking out into a smile, "No charge for half starved children and friends of my son."

Tigress smiled and bowed to the cook, "Thank you Mr. Ping," before reaching over and picking up the girl sitting next to her, who surprisingly didn't fight back.

Handing the girl's bowl over to the old cook, Tigress stood up with the girl lying on her left shoulder, and walked out the kitchen and out the front doorway. Po waved good-bye to his father and chased after her.

Mr. Ping waved front the front door and said, "Good-bye Po! And good-bye little girl! There'll be a bowl of soup for you next time you visit! Just make sure you get permission first!"

Lying atop of Tigress' shoulder and facing the goose, the girl raised up her paw and waved it back ever so slightly, bringing a smile to the cook's beak as he watched the trio walk towards the Jade Palace.

Talking to himself he says, "Hmm, looks like I'm going to be a grandfather sooner than I thought." Chuckling, he heads back inside to his hungry customers.

* * *

><p>Thanks to a certain panda, Tigress, Po, and the girl were making painstakingly slow progress on the stairs.<p>

After climbing for a whole ten minutes, Po plops down on one of the steps, out of breath….again.

Sighing, Tigress leans down until her face is level with his, and says, "Come on, Po! We're not even halfway there yet!"

Holding up a hand Po replies, "_Huff_-just give-_huff_-me a sec-_huff_. Wheeeww these stairs-_huff huff_-are tough!"

Tigress gives him a minute.

Finally he stands up. "Whew! Okay! Here we go!" He turns to go up the stairs but stops, and starts to sniff the air. Turning to Tigress he asks, "Do you smell something?"

Tigress sniffs and replies, "I don't smell anything."

"Hmmm," Po keeps sniffing around them until he stares at the child. Pointing he says, "Ah-ha! There's the source!" He leans in and smell her some more, ignoring her glare and growl.

Smiling, Po straightens up. "Someone needs bath-badly!"

He stares at Tigress expectantly.

She stares back at him while trying not to blush under her fur.

"Well?" Po asks after a while.

"'Well' what, Po?"

"Aren't you going to give her a bath?"

Tigress looks at his incredulously and gestures around them, "And what exactly should I use to give her a bath with, might I ask?"

Not even blinking Po replies, "With your tongue, of course. Isn't that how cats wash their ki-OOHOOHOO!" The Dragon Warrior yelps in pain as Tigress' foot drops down onto his head.

In a scarily calm voice, Tigress says, "Po…if you _ever _say that again, I'm going to-" but stops when she realizes the child on her shoulder is giggling softly.

Holding his head, Po states, "Why is it that she only laughs whenever I get a headache?"

Smiling Tigress responds, "Because it's funny to watch those ridiculous faces you make when you're in pain." and begins to make her way up the stairs once again.

Po mumbles, "That or she's sadistic…Hey, wait up!" and dashes up after the two tigers.

* * *

><p>After another ten grueling minutes (at least for Po), the trio finally make it to the tournament area and find the rest of the Furious Five waiting for them.<p>

With a sigh of relief, Viper moves up to Tigress and says, "Oh thank heavens you found her. Where was she?"

Tigress places the girl on the ground as she answers, "Eating noodles at Mr. Ping's."

To the cub, Viper asks, "Why did you run away?"

Once again, the little tiger says nothing and just stares at the ground.

Downhearted for a second at the girl's brush off, Viper nonetheless cheers up as she remembers something.

"That's right! I forgot! Introductions are in order! You've already met Tigress and Po," they nod. She points her tail at herself, "I'm Viper, and that's Crane, Monkey, and Mantis," gesturing to each in turn before looking back at the girl. "And what's your name?"

Silence.

She offers her tail to the cub, saying, "It's okay, you don't have to be scared," before drawing it back quickly as the cub growls at it.

'_I think I'm starting to get an idea of what Tigress was talking about.'_ Viper thinks to herself, before perking her head up and asking, "What's that smell?"

Tigress points at the girl, "It's her. I was just about to give her a bath."

Viper looks up at her friend and smiles, "It's a good thing too, because you look like you also need one."

Tigress looks down at herself and realized what Viper was saying was true; her fur was mussed up because she hadn't groomed it since waking up, and she was splotched here and there with mud from the night before. There was some blood on her sash, no doubt from on of the bandits, and like the cub, her vest was stained with noodle soup broth.

Sighing she thinks, _'I need as bath as much as the girl needs on, if not more so.'_

Picking up her charge, Tigress asks Viper, "Will you help me clean her up?"

Viper nods and says "Sure!" and the three of them began to make their way to the Palace bathhouse, with Po not far behind them.

As soon as the girl caught sight of the bathhouse and the smell of water, she immediately began to thrash around in Tigress' arms.

"No! I don't want to take a bath! You can't make me!" she cried as she squirmed around, trying to get loose.

Her grip not loosening for a second, Tigress growled lightly, "You are getting a bath whether you like it or not!"

Po watch as Tigress held onto the child and asks, "I thought tigers liked water?"

Tigress replied without thinking, "Most of us do, but I think this one is just being stubborn." Realizing who she was talking to, Tigress stopped in her tracks, causing Po to almost walk into her.

Spinning around neatly on her heels, the master stares him in the eye and asks him, "And just where do you think you're going?"

Recognizing that look in her eye, Po responds nervously, "To the…bathhouse…to wash the…girl…"

"Repeat the last word you said." Tigress ordered with a cold look in her eye.

Po swallowed hard, "Girl?"

"That's right, she is a girl. And you are?"

Po saw where this was going. "A guy?"

"Right, a 'guy'," Tigress took a step forward. "Now, do you _really_ think I'm going to let you help us wash a little girl? Hmm?"

Paws sweating bullets, Po shakes his head, "No?"

Tigress smiles, revealing her pearly white fangs, "Correct. And now you're going to turn around and go back down the path, right?"

Nodding, Po says, "Yup," and stands there staring at here.

"If you understand, then _why _are you still standing there?"

Quick as a flash, Po turned around and started running with all his might down the path he had just came up, not stopping until he turned around the corner and out of sight.

Huffing at Po's idiocy, Tigress turns around and walks through the door of the bathhouse, an amused Viper not far behind.

* * *

><p><em>AN: And that's the end of this chapter!_

_The next one will have an amusing bath scene in it!_

_Thanks for reading!_

_Please R&R!_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Whoo-hoo! Another chapter up and running!_

_Thank you all sooooooo much for your awesome reviews!_

_Reading them makes me feel all warm and giggly!_

_Please R&R!_

* * *

><p>Chapter Five<p>

"What are you laughing at?" Tigress asked Viper, who was trying to stifle her chuckles.

"Hee-hee, oh nothing," Viper replied, "Just laughing at the cute little lover's quarrel you had with Po."

The tiger answered before she realized what the snake had said. "He should know better than to think that-LOVER'S QUARREL!" Tigress spun around and stared in shock at her friend. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN LOVER'S QUARREL!"

Viper shrugged her coils, "I'm just saying, to me that's what it looked like." She slithered by her slack-jawed friend, "And besides, I think you two make an adorable couple."

Following her friend into the Palace bathhouse, Tigress stammered, "Co-co-couple? We-we are _not_ a couple!"

They reach the girls' side of the bathhouse, which has a natural hot spring in it.

Closing the door and setting the cub down, Tigress glares at Viper and says, "What makes you think we're a couple?"

Viper waves her off with her tail, "As much as I'd like to discuss with you what everyone in the Valley already knows, we have something more important to do."

Tigress growls, "Like what?"

Pointing behind the tiger, Viper replies calmly, "Like making sure the girl who is trying to sneak away again gets a bath."

"Wha-OH!" Whirling around, Tigress quickly reaches out and grabs onto the tiger cub before she could open the door.

The girl immediately begins to thrash around again, saying, "NO! I don't want a bath!"

Carrying the girl over to the water's edge, Tigress says, "Too bad, because you are going to get one-NOW!"

Before the girl knew what was going on, Tigress stripped her of her clothes and promptly dropped her into the oversized bath tub.

As she came back up sputtering, the now soaked cub glared daggers at Tigress, who had by now taken off her own clothes and stepped in to join her.

Grabbing the child before she could attempt to swim away, Tigress says to Viper, "Pass me the soap and brush please."

As the master slithered off to retrieve the items, Tigress sat down on the bench built in the spring, the disgruntled cub still thrashing in her lap. When the snake returned, the two of them took turns holding the child and scrubbing her fur clean.

After about five minutes, the girl gave up her hopeless squirming-

But not before landing a bite on Tigress' forearm, which the master promptly growled at.

They had finished the rest of her body and were working on her head when Viper realized something.

"Tigress, I just thought of something."

Trying not to get soap in the child's eyes, Tigress replied, "Yes?"

"When we're done cleaning her, what is she going to wear?" The snake looks at the girls' pile of clothes, "She won't be able to wear these anymore. They're dirty, ripped, and worn thinner than rice paper!"

Tigress stopped washing the girl and thought for a second.

"That is a problem," Her eyes light up. "I know! She can wear my old clothes, they should fit!"

"Great idea! Where are they?"

"I'm not sure….go ask Shifu, he should know."

"Ok then! You finish cleaning her and I'll go find the clothes." With that Viper slithered out the door to go and find Shifu.

Satisfied, Tigress got back to work on the child, who was sitting on the edge of the pool facing Tigress.

When the top of girl's head was covered in bubbles, she sniffled.

Concerned, Tigress stopped washing and bent her head down until her eyes were leveled with the child's, which were looking down.

"Are you ok? Did I get soap in you're eyes?" she asked.

Sniffling again and rubbing her arm against her nose with a stubborn look on her face, the girl replied, "No," still not looking Tigress in the face.

Tigress raised one of her eyebrows, "Then why are you crying?"

Sniffle, "I'm-_sniff_-I'm not crying," the stubborn girl said as her eyes slowly began to fill with tears.

Tigress couldn't help but smile softly at the tough acting girl, "Oh really? Then the water flowing down you're cheeks must be from the fur on top of you're head, right?"

The girl sniffled some more and said nothing.

Bending down, trying to make eye contact with the small child, Tigress pressed on, "Come on, what's really wrong?"

The cub simply avoided her gaze and said nothing.

'_Stubborn girl,'_ Tigress thought, _'Still, maybe it's better if I don't push her.'_

Sighing she says to the girl, "Okay, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," and goes back to work rinsing the soap off the girl's head.

She was nearly way done when the girl says, "_Sniff_-Mama used to do this-_sniff_-for me…"

Tigress freezes, and looks at the girl who seems smaller than ever, "Your Mama?"

The small cub nods, tears streaming down her face, "Mhmm-_sniff_-but then-_sniff_-Mama went away and-_sniff_-and left me with-with _them_!" With that, any self-control the girl had slipped away and she began to cry openly.

Tigress stares at her, not knowing what to do, and begins to panic.

'_Oh no! She's crying! Wha-what do I do!'_ Tigress looks at the door to see if Viper had returned yet, but she hadn't.

Looking back at the child, who was shaking by now, Tigress' instinct kicked in and without a second thought she wrapped the girl in a hug.

Cooing in the child's ear as she stroked her back, Tigress says, "Shhh…there, there….it's ok…I'm right here…" Sitting on the edge of the pool, she let's the poor girl cry it out as she clung to Tigress' chest.

After a few minutes, the child's bawls shrank back down into sniffles and she released her hold on Tigress.

Sitting the girl on her lap and wiping the leftover tears with her thumb, Tigress asks gently, "Feel better?"

The cub sniffs and nods.

Tigress smiles and rubs the top of her head gently, "Good. Now, let's finish cleaning you up before Viper gets back."

The girl nods again and Tigress places her on her feet beside the pool and gets up to get a towel off of the pegs along the wall.

Returning with a large towel for herself and a smaller one for the girl, Tigress wraps the larger one around herself and with the other begins to gently rub the girl down.

She's rubbing the girl's head dry when suddenly-

"Rui."

Tigress stops rubbing and lifts the towel off the girl's head, "Did you say something?"

The girl stares at the ground, "My name. It's Rui."

Staring at the child in shock for a moment, Tigress regains her composure and tilts her head as if in thought, "Rui, huh? That means…sharp intellect," she inwardly chuckles. _'That's a perfect name for this child.'_

Putting the towel down, Tigress smiles and holds out her hand, "Well Rui, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Tigress-oh, wait I already told you that…"

Smiling slightly, Rui takes Tigress hand and looks at her face. Her face looks puzzled for a split second before she begins to giggle.

Tilting her head again, Tigress asks, "What's so funny?"

Pointing at her head Rui says, "Your fur is!"

"Huh?" Tigress reaches up to feel her fur on her head, and when that yields no answers, she leans over the water to see her reflection.

"AHHH!" Because of the humidity in the bathhouse, Tigress' fur had become wavy and curly.

Using her claws as a comb, Tigress tries to straighten her fur out with little success while thinking, _'Cursed humidity, it always does this!'_

Eventually giving up, Tigress goes back to drying Rui off just as Viper returns with a bundle in her coils.

"Sorry it took so long! I had trouble finding Shifu and then _he_ had trouble remembering where he had put your old things," placing the clothes on the ground she continues, "And while I was at it I also got some clothes for you to change into Tigress."

"Thank you, Viper." Tigress replies and begins to pull on her clothes, as Viper looks the now dry cub over.

"My my, don't you look nice and clean now!" The snake says. "I almost didn't recognize you!"

Fastening her vest, Tigress says, "Ah! That reminds me," turning around she continues, "Viper, I would like to introduce you to Rui, our latest guest to the Palace."

Viper's head snaps back to the girl, a huge grin on face, "Rui! What a pretty name! And where are you from Rui?"

Rui stays silent.

Tigress speaks up, "We haven't gotten to that part yet." Changing the subject she says, "So, which clothes did you bring her?"

Perking up at the sound of clothes, Viper slithers over to the pile and says, "Well, I didn't exactly have a lot of choices; all you have are training clothes," she ignores the glare Tigress gives her, "But I eventually was able to come up this cute outfit!"

Viper holds up an outfit that is very similar to the one Tigress is wearing right now; only the sleeves of the vest are slightly longer and the pants are more gray than black.

Viper hands the clothes over to Rui who puts them on. When she fastens the last clip, Rui can't help but smile at how well they fit her or how comfortable they were.

"A perfect fit!" Viper says. "I can't wait for the others to see her at dinner!"

At the word dinner, a growl escapes from Rui's tummy.

Tigress laughs, "Are you still hungry? You just had a bowl of rice and _three_ bowls of noodle soup not an hour ago!"

"Oh, stop teasing her Tigress! It's good to have an appetite….unless its like Po's!"

Tigress could only smile and nod, she was trying so hard not to laugh.

"Po is the panda, right?" A small voice asks them.

The two masters look at Rui, and Viper answers, "That's right. He's the Dragon Warrior."

Rui looks surprised, "Really? Isn't he too fat to be a kung fu master?"

Stifling another laugh, Tigress says, "As hard as it is to believe, despite what he looks like he really is the Dragon Warrior."

Rui looked unconvinced, "The same Dragon Warrior who defeated Tai Lung _and_ Lord Shen, saving all of China?"

Viper nods, "The very same."

Seeing that Rui still had doubts, Tigress says, "If you don't believe us, then come see for yourself," to Viper she asks, "Training should still be going on, right?"

Understanding Tigress idea, Viper nods, "Yes it is!" Turning to Rui she asks the cub, "Would you like to see kung fu masters train?"

Rui smiles and nods shyly.

"Great! Then let's go!" Tigress says and offers her paw to the little girl. Rui stares at it before taking it and the three of them walk out of the bathhouse and towards the Training Hall.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Thanks for reading!_

_ I'm sorry this one is so short, but I just felt that this would be a good place to end this chapter._

_Also, I have a question;_

_Do they do handshakes in China?_

_I thought about making Rui and Tigress bow to eachother, but being the American that I am, it just didn't feel right._

_Any comments?_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: *Bows head so hard that imprint is left on floor*_

_I'm sorry! I'm sorry! i'm sorry!_

_I'm so sorry that this chapter took forever to be put up!_

_I just got a new laptop and it doesn't have word..._

_But that's no excuse..._

_It was wrong of me to take so long to update..._

_And to make matters worse, when I finally do update, it's with this crappy chapter..._

_Again; I am sorry._

_...I'm worthless..._

_...I should just go crawl in a hole somewhere.._

_*Tears up*_

_TT^TT I DON'T DESERVE SUCH GREAT FANS LIKE YOU GUYS! TT^TT_

_...sniffle..._

_Anyway...here's the next chapter..._

_Please R&R... _

_...If you think it's worth it..._

_...which it's not..._

* * *

><p>Chapter Six<p>

The two tigers and the snake entered the Training Hall to find Mantis, Monkey, and Crane crowded around a giant lump next to the Wooden Warriors. The lump was black and white and looked a lot like-

"PO!" Viper and Tigress cried as they rushed over.

The panda groaned as he sat up, holding his head.

Turning to Crane, Tigress worriedly asks, "What happened?"

Looking at her, Crane says, "He was trying to get a bowl of rice that was left on top of one of the Wooden Warriors and-_sigh_-well, you can guess the rest."

"A bowl of-OH!" Tigress smacked herself on the head as she remembered her lunch, and more importantly where she left it. To Po she says, "Did you seriously try to get my lunch again!"

"I thought that rice tasted familiar," Po smiled and groaned as he gestured to the now empty bowl next to him.

Rui, who was standing behind Tigress and looking around the master's back, asks her, "Are you _sure_ he's the Dragon Warrior?"

Before Tigress could answer, Po sat all the way up and glared softly at the cub, "What are you talking about? Course I'm the Dragon Warrior!"

The girl crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yes! And I'll prove it!" Standing up, Po dashed over to the far wall near the door-

To the Adversary!

Stopping right in front of it, the panda turns and yells, "Watch this kid!"

Seeing where this was going, Tigress tried to stop him, "Po I don't think that's a good-"

"SKADOOSH!" Po cried as he threw his fist as hard as he could towards the 'rocking menace'.

"Idea," Tigress finished. _'This won't end well,'_ she thought.

Po's powerful punch sent the Adversary flying through the air, until it collided with the wall-

And promptly decided to bounce back!

Sure enough, the Dragon Warrior didn't notice his foe flying back towards him until it was too late to move.

What followed afterwards was a complete repeat of Po's first day in the Training Hall-

Only somehow, despite all of his training, it was ten times worse.

When the painful ordeal was finally over, Po crawled back to where the others were standing, the top of his head on fire again, and asks, "Am I still at Level Zero?"

Tigress kneels down and snuffs out the flame, saying, "That would be a yes."

Rui looks at Viper and asks, "Is that how kung fu masters train?"

"Uh…not quite," the snake replied trying not to laugh at the poor panda Tigress was helping to get up. Remembering the cub, Viper says, "Ah, everyone, I'd like you to meet Rui!"

Forgetting Po, Monkey, Mantis, and Crane all turned around and greeted the small cub.

"What's up!"

"Hi there!"

"Nice to meet you!

Rui, true to form, ignored them and stared at the ground.

Viper slithered over to Crane and whispered in his ear, "Don't worry about it too much, she's just not used to you yet."

Crane nodded in agreement, as Po walked, somewhat unsteadily, in front of the masters.

"Soooo, what'd you think? Am I the Dragon Warrior or what?"

"Or what," Rui answered looking him in the eye.

Shoulders slumping he asks, "You still don't think I'm a kung fu master, huh?"

Head shaking, the cub says, "Uh-uh."

His head dropping in defeat, Po's mood only perked back up when his stomach grumbled…loudly!

Hands in the air he says, "Whoo-hoo! Time for dinner!"

Over the chuckles of the other masters, two other rumbling tummies could be heard-

And both of them were from tigers.

Chuckling, Po kneeled down in front of Rui and asked, "Aww, is the little tiger still hungry?"

The cub growled and said, "Don't talk to me like I'm a child!"

Shrugging, the panda says, "I have to talk to talk to you like that," he jerks his thumb behind him, "The only other tiger here is Tigress, and if I talk to _her_ like that she'd probably toss me down the stairs…_again._" Po sighed at the last bit.

Covering her mouth with her paw, Rui struggled not to laugh at the strange warrior as he tried to defend himself from Tigress' glare.

At the sound of the cub's stomach rumbling again, Tigress sighs and says, "Po, is there any chance you could stop goofing around and help to feed Rui?"

Flashing his trademark smile Po replied, "Yeah, sure alright," before turning back around to the girl, not noticing Tigress' slight blush, or that her heart was beating faster than usual.

Before Rui could react, Po had swept her up and placed her onto his right shoulder.

"Let's get some food in that belly of yours, huh?" He said with a goofy grin on his face.

With that, Po began to walk out of the Training Hall, the other masters following not far behind.

In the Palace Kitchen, which was finally fixed after Po's raid on it before he fought Tai Lung, Po placed the cub into a chair at the table and immediately set out to make his Secret Ingredient Soup.

The Five walked in and sat down at the table in the center of the room, Tigress seating herself next to Rui who, while standing on her chair and her hands on the table, was sniffing the air like crazy as it filled with the smell of Po's cooking.

As Po cooked, the rest of the kung fu masters tried to get some answers out of the little girl.

"So, uh, Rui," Crane started, "Where are you from?"

Rui, remembering the others were there, made a face and leaned backwards until her back made contact with the chair back and folded her arms defiantly.

Monkey gives it a try, "Where are your parents?"

The defiant arms are now joined by their close cousin, the childish glare.

"How'd you end up in a crate?" Mantis so tactfully asks.

"Mantis!" Viper hissed and thwacked him with her tail.

As the two masters silently glared at each other, the child receded farther and farther into her shell.

'_This is not good,' _Tigress thought as she felt the room's atmosphere begin to plummet, _'I need to do something.'_

Out of blue, Po asks, "How do you like your noodles Rui?"

Everyone freezes and looks at the panda, even the tiger cub.

Po looks at her expectantly, "Well?"

"Uhhh….not too tacky and not too mushy?" Rui replies cautiously.

"So basically like everyone else like them," Mantis said, earning another tail smack from Viper.

Po just smiles and nods, "Not too tacky not too mushy noodles, coming right up!"

While the Dragon Warrior gets back to cooking, Master Shifu enters the kitchen, Oogway's staff behind his back.

"Ah, here you all are," Noticing someone sitting in his spot he adds as he walks over, "And I see our guest has decided to join us. Hello little one, and welcome to the Jade Palace. My name is Master Shifu, and you are?"

"Hungry," Rui replied while looking over the old red panda.

One of Shifu's ears twitches as he asks, "Pardon?"

Interfering, Po nervously states, "What she means, Master, is that-uh-she's-um-"

Keeping a calm face, Tigress says, "Her name is Rui, Master-"

"And she's…really…hungry…" Po finishes lamely.

Looking between the tiger and the panda, Shifu simply shrugs and says, "Very well," as Po begins to pass out a bowl and a cup of tea for everyone, including himself.

It is when Po sits down that everyone realizes that Shifu is still standing-

Because Rui is still in his seat.

Shifu looks around the table, which only has seven chairs, and a devious idea forms in his head. _'This will be amusing,'_ he thinks to himself.

To his students he says, "It appears we have run out of seats, and I was so looking forward to enjoying a meal with my students."

Swallowing his mouth-full of noodles, Po offers, "I can eat standing up Master, and you can have my seat if you want."

Shaking his head, Shifu answers, "Thank you Po, but you worked hard for this meal and deserve a seat," he sighs dramatically, "And I can't ask a guest of the Palace to eat at anywhere else but the table...oh what to do, what to do?"

Suddenly, Shifu snaps his fingers as if he's had an idea.

"I know! I can sit in my seat-" the crafty master says, "And Rui can sit in Tigress' lap!"

"WHAT!" The kung fu masters state-particularly a certain feline one.

Shaking her head as if to shake off the shock, Tigress stammers, "Wh-why does she have to sit in my lap! Why not someone else!"

Calmly stroking his beard, Shifu replies, "Well, for one thing-no one else here could; Neither Mantis, Monkey, or Crane could do it for obvious reasons, Po can't even see his lap, and frankly my bones just aren't what they used to be, which just leaves you."

Smilingly inwardly at his disciple's expression, Shifu continues, "And for another thing, I believe that _you_ are the one who was so adamant about the girl living here in the first place, so she's _your_ responsibility."

Before Tigress could utter a single word, Shifu had already gently kicked the girl into the air so that the tiger had no choice but to catch her-bowl and all.

Taking his seat, the master says, "Now that that is settled, let us eat," and calmly begins to eat his noodles.

Tigress stares at her master for a second before sighing and sitting down in defeat, placing the girl in her lap as she did so.

Looking at Rui, who had returned to eating, Tigress couldn't help but feel something akin to dislike coming off the girl in waves. Gone was the small child who had wept in her arms not long ago, once again sealed deep within this stubborn cub.

For reasons she didn't understand, the tiger felt sad at this loss of…whatever it was she had shared with the small child, and she yearned for a chance to somehow get it back.

As dinner continued, no one noticed the smile Shifu had on his face whenever he took a sip of the delicious broth.

'_This is going to be fun,'_ he thinks to himself.

* * *

><p><em>AN: And there it is._

_That is what you waited for more than two weeks for._

_Again, I'm sorry._

_...you don't deserve to read such a terrible chapter..._


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N:_

_I FINALLY GOT OFF MY LAZY ASS AND TYPED A NEW CHAPTER!_

_HOORAY!_

_To all you readers who checked this story every day for the past two months to see if I had uploaded, and were seriously annoyed/disappointed when I didn't,_

_I apologize._

_I suck._

_I really suck..._

_I don't deserve great fans like you who write such awesome reviews..._

_I don't deserve to live..._

_*Go stabs herself with a katana and dies*_

_*Springs back to life*_

_Well, anyway, here's the long awaited for 7th chapter!_

_Hope you like it!_

_Please R&R!_

* * *

><p>Chapter Seven<p>

When dinner finally ended, and all the dishes were put away, the group of martial arts masters, plus a guest, made their way to the dormitory. Along the way, Tigress turned to Shifu and asked, "Master, where will Rui sleep tonight?"

For an instant, the red panda considered ordering his second oldest student to share her bed with the cub, but decided he had tortured her enough for one day.

Instead he said, "Tonight, our guest shall have a room at the end of the hall."

Po, who had a yawning Rui in the crook of his left arm, immediately raised his hand and started to jump up and down slightly.

"Ooh-ooh-ooh! Shifu, can she have the one next to mine! Please please please!"

Chuckling softly, Shifu replied, "Of course she can Po, and thank you so much for volunteering to put her to bed."

Po's smile faded, "Say wha?"

At the sound of the word 'bed', the tiger cub in question began to thrash around in the giant panda's arms.

"No! I don't want to go to bed! No!"

Slightly amused by her outburst, Viper calmly asked, "Oh? You don't want to go to bed?"

"No!" Rui responded.

Crane got into the conversation.

"Then where do you want to go?"

This threw the girl off.

"Uh…"

Monkey smiled as he figured out where this was going.

Playing along he said, "If you don't want to go to bed, then you must want to go somewhere else, right?"

"Well…" the cub was stumped.

"Looks like someone got mixed up," Tigress noted with a smile.

Glaring at the master slightly, Rui folded her arms and huffed.

"Tigress, quit teasing her," Po replied playfully. To the girl he said with his usual enthusiasm, "You just want to stay up and hang out with the pure 'Awesomeness' that is the Dragon Warrior, am I right?"

"Not even close," the cub replied without skipping a beat.

At the dejected look on the panda's face, Tigress couldn't help but laugh quietly as she thought,_ 'He may be the Dragon Warrior, but he's still so sensitive.'_

Reaching the dorm, the students bid good night to their master and each made their way to their own rooms-

Save for Po who was carrying a once again yawning cub to her room, and Tigress who was following him.

Sliding open the door to the right of his, the Dragon Warrior walked into a room containing little more than a bed, a small dresser, and bedding. Tigress stood in the doorway, feeling more than a little awkward.

Oblivious to her presence, Po gave Rui the grand tour.

"Well, Rui, this is your room! It's not much right now, but you can do whatever you want with it! For instance, I filled my room with tons of awesome posters, cool weapons and action figures of the Furious Five! I have Mantis, Monkey, Viper, Crane, and-" he finally noticed Tigress standing behind him and gets flustered, "Tigress! How-how long have you been standing there?"

Trying to act nonchalant, and failing, Tigress replied, "Uh, not-not long. I just wanted to…to make sure found her bed ok." She mentally slapped herself as she thought, _'"Found her bed ok"? That's stupid.'_

Po didn't notice, and said, "Right! Right, her bed! It's bedtime, Rui!"

Rui, who was getting sleepier with each passing second, mumbled, "No…don't wanna…"

Smiling at her efforts to stay awake, the giant panda chuckled as he placed her onto the cot and covered her with a blanket.

"Sorry, little one, but now its time for bed," Po gently ruffled the top of her head and whispered, "Sweet dreams."

As the cub yawned and snuggled under the blanket, Tigress couldn't help but smile.

Po tiptoed back to the door, making Tigress flinch as he hit every squeaky board along the way. When he finally reached the door, the two masters moved out into the hallway and slid the door shut, leaving Rui to sleep.

After staring at the door and its occupant for a few seconds, Po and Tigress looked at eachother and realized they were the only ones in the hallway. The two masters looked at the floor, the walls, everywhere but at eachother, blushing all the while.

'_This is embarrassing! I need to say something,'_ Tigress thought.

Suddenly turning to eachother, the tiger and the panda both said, ""Well, I-!""

They stop and stared, and then tried again.

""You go first.""

""No you.""

""All I wanted-!""

""Could you stop-!""

""What I wanted to say was-!""

""UGH!""

""Forget it!""

""Good night!""

Fed up with the entire thing, they both turned and went to their own rooms. Closing her door, Tigress smacked herself soundly on her forehead.

"That. Was. So. Dumb!"

That said, the south china tiger crawled into her bed and fell asleep.

* * *

><p><em>Tigress was sitting on her bed in Bao Gu. It had been adoption day and a lot of the geese, bunnies, and pigs had been adopted.<em>

_Each and every adult had only glanced at Tigress before moving on to another orphan._

_Suddenly there was a 'thunk', and a rock appeared on the floor in front of the little cub. Tigress lifted her head in time to see another one come sailing in through her open window._

_Walking over, the young tiger peeked through the bars and saw some of the older children, who had also been passed over for adoption, standing below her window with rocks in their hooved and feathery hands._

_Mad at not being adopted, they had decided to let off some steam by torturing someone who couldn't do anything about it._

_Like a tiger in a locked room._

"_Hey you guys!" Tigress yelled down to them. "Knock it off!"_

_At her appearance, they simply laughed and tossed some more rocks, a few of which actually hit Tigress._

_Enraged, the cub growled and tried to squeeze through the bars, but they were too narrow._

_She roared at them to get away, but they just laughed even harder. After getting bonked on the nose by a particularly pointy rock, Tigress gave up and closed the shades._

_Undaunted, the boys kept throwing rock after rock at the closed window, each one causing a loud 'bang' when it connected with the shade._

_Helpless, Tigress could do nothing but curl up on her bed and endure it._

'_Bang bang bang'_

_The cub put her paws to her ears in an attempt to block out the noise, but it just seemed to get louder._

'_BANG BANG!'_

_It felt like the sound would split her head in half. _

'_BANG!'_

_It was as loud as thunder!_

'BOOOOM!'

Tigress awoke with a start and sat straight up in bed, her breathing heavy.

She calmed down when she realized she was at the palace, and put her head in her hands at the memory of her nightmare.

'BOOOOM!'

The tiger master flinched at the sound that resounded through the sky, before she realized that it was just thunder.

Chuckling at her own foolishness, Tigress smiled as she felt her heart racing in her chest.

Rubbing the space between her eyes, she said aloud, "What a nightmare…"

Suddenly her ears twitched. The kung fu master heard what sounded like a squeak followed by the scrabbling of paws on the floor.

Then silence.

Moving swiftly and silently to the door, Tigress slid it open an inch and surveyed the hall.

It was empty.

Sliding it open enough for her body to fit through, the tiger stepped out into the hallway and listened again.

A lightning flash caused the hallway to light up. Not a second later, the thunder followed it up with another boom.

Over the resonance, Tigress heard another squeak, but this time it sounded more like a cry. And it was coming from-

Rui's room!

Not wasting a second, the master moved in front of Rui's door and was about to charge in when paused.

'_If I just barge in I'll probably scare her half to death,'_ she thought.

Taking a deep breath, the tiger instead knocked on the door softly and asked, "Rui? It's Tigress. Can I come in?"

Hearing silence, Tigress took another breath and slid the door open gently.

Her heart stopped for a split second when she noticed that the bed was empty and the cub nowhere to be seen.

Praying silently, she quietly padded over to the bed, knelt down-

And found Rui curled up beneath the bed, wide eyed and shivering.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Tigress thought, _'Thank the gods,'_ before she asked the shaking cub, "Why is it, that you like being under beds so much?"

Rui said nothing.

"Can you please come out?"

The cub stopped shaking for a moment and just glared at Tigress before shaking her head.

Trying to keep her temper in check, the master asked, "What are you doing under the bed in the first place?"

"None of your business!" the cub growled.

Annoyed, Tigress was about to snap at the child when the thunder sounded again. At the sound of the large boom, Rui cried out and curled even tighter into a ball.

Anger forgotten, the tiger looked from the window to the little girl and asked, "Are you afraid of thunder?"

Rui stayed curled into her ball and said nothing.

'_Poor thing…she's terrified,'_ Tigress thought.

Looking at the poor cub that was shaking harder than a leaf, the tiger couldn't help but flash back to her nightmare and how she was always alone at Bao Gu.

'_She needs someone to cheer her up,' _the master mused, _'She doesn't really like me so who-Po! He made her laugh before! He could help!'_

She said, "I'll be right back," got up and moved towards the door. She arrived and was about to open it when Rui slammed into her legs crying, "No!"

Stunned, Tigress turned her upper body around and looked at the little cub that was clinging to her.

Rui, her face buried in Tigress' pants, said in a very small voice, "Please…please don't go…. I'm…I'm scared…."

The master could feel the girl's shaking form throughout her whole body. Smiling softly, she turned the rest of the way around, kneeled down, and wrapped Rui in a gentle hug that the cub was quick to return, hiding her face in the crook of the grown tiger's neck.

"It's okay. I'm not going anywhere," Tigress whispered.

The thunder boomed again, causing Rui to whimper and grip Tigress even tighter.

"Shh, it's okay, it's just thunder," the master said as she stood and carried the cub back to her bed. Reaching it, she sat down and scooted back until her back could lean against the wall. Sitting cross-legged, she pulled Rui into her lap, hugging/cradling her.

The two tigers stayed like that for a long time. The thunder would scare Rui and Tigress would comfort her. Eventually the storm passed and the cub fell asleep, still curled up on Tigress' lap.

Looking at her sleeping face, the master didn't have the heart to move her, and instead wiggled into as comfortable position as possible and just watched the small child. Seeing her at peace made Tigress feel at peace, and at some point she too fell into a nice dreamless sleep, with a small smile on her face that matched the one on Rui's.

* * *

><p><em>AN: I thought that came out okay._

_Sorry it's so short, but I figured that a) You guys would want a chapter as quickly as possible and b) This would be a good place to stop it._

_That's it!_

_Hope you liked it and are not too pissed at me for not updating this story in two months._

_Please R&R!_


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: If I didn't know that killing myself would forever leave this story unfinished (and have each one of you cursing my grave for all eternity) then I probably would out of shame._

_Once again, I've made you wait faaaaaar longer that you should for a chapter update, and for the umpteenth time, I will apologize._

_I'm sorry you have to put up with this crap._

_Especially since you all have been nothing but nice to me since I started this story._

_92 comments, and not a single one of them says one, single bad thing to me!_

_You guys are all saints! TT^TT_

_Anyway, to make it sort of up to you, I will make this chapter as long as I possibly can._

_It's the least I can do._

* * *

><p>Chapter Eight<p>

Not long before the morning wake up call, Tigress was woken up by the sound of the door sliding open. Her eyes still closed, the tiger tensed up and was about to pounce on whomever was walking through the door when she realized that no one was walking-

But someone was slithering.

"Tigress? What are you doing here?" Viper asked.

Breathing a sigh of relief that it was just Viper, Tigress opened her eyes, noticed that she was not in her own bedroom, and suddenly remembered that she was in Rui's room-

And that said cub was sleeping curled up on her lap.

Blushing as much as a tiger can, the kung fu master stammered, "Ah-well…you see…it was-it was thundering and Rui…um…wha-what are you doing here?"

Deciding to ignore her friend's obvious embarrassment, as rare and cute as it was, the snake said, "I just wanted to check on Rui, and see how she had slept, before Master Shifu arrives," Viper couldn't resist, "But I see you already beat me to the punch."

Before Tigress could stammer out another reply, she felt the bundle in her lap move and she froze.

Groggy from sleep, Rui stretched out in the older tigers lap before she sat up with her back to Tigress and began rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Her rubbing and stretching done, Rui fully opened her eyes and noticed Viper "standing" in front of her.

"Good morning Rui!" the snake said.

Withdrawing into herself slightly, Rui mumbled back, "Morning," before she realized that she was sitting on something. Looking back over her shoulder the little cub found she was in the lap of Tigress.

At being discovered, Tigress blushed again, and also mumbled a good morning while averting her eyes.

"Awwww! Don't you two just look adorable together!" Viper gushed.

Visible embarrassment gone, Tigress shot a look at the snake that said 'Be quiet or I'll hurt you!'

Viper giggled. "You two even glare the same!"

Surprised, the two tigers glanced at eachother to find that they were indeed making the same face at Viper, although that face was quickly changed to one of surprise and then slight embarrassment.

Clearing her throat, Tigress picked Rui up and placed her onto the bed before getting up and standing before Viper.

"All that means is that she enjoys being laughed at in the morning just as much as I do. Which is none!"

Laughing off the tiger's barely concealed threat, Viper replied, "Oh, come on Tigress! What's a little joke between old friends, right? Besides, I meant what I said; you two look cute together!" The snake paused for a second before smiling wickedly and adding, "Of course, an even cuter couple would be you and P-ugh!"

Her paw firmly clenched on Viper's mouth, Tigress knelt down until she was eye-level with the snake and growled, "Stop that sentence right there, Viper, or so help me I'll tie you into a knot again!"

"Mo mes mumming," Viper mumbled through her clenched jaw.

Sighing, Tigress reluctantly removed her hand from the snake's mouth and asked, "What did you say?"

Stretching her jaw, Viper replied, "One; that hurt. And two; I said 'Po is coming.'"

"I only did it because you were spouting such riduc-WHAT!" Tigress nearly roared. Listening carefully for any movement in the room the next, sure enough, the tiger heard the distinct sound of Po getting out of his own bed, groaning and grumbling, and making his way to his door.

"How much do you want to bet that he's going to check to see how Rui slept last night?" Viper quipped to her best friend.

Shooting one last glare at Viper, Tigress quickly considered her options. She could hear Po enter the hallway, so trying to escape back to her own room was out; as quirky as Po was, he'd still noticed a tiger barreling out of Rui's room.

Having no other choice, the kung fu master launched herself into the air and dug her claws into the wall right above the doorway, holding herself parallel to the ground with her arms and legs.

She hadn't been in place for a second when there was a knock on the door. Sliding open, a black and white head poked itself through the doorway into the room.

"Rui? Are you up-Viper!" Po squealed nervously, "Wha-what are you doing here?"

Trying her hardest not to laugh at how Tigress said the exact same thing, Viper replied, "I wanted to see how Rui had slept. Same as you, apparently."

Laughing awkwardly, Po said, "Well-um…that is… It was her first time sleeping here and-well, not unless you count her stay in the infirmary. I guess she did sleep then…but what I meant was it was her first night sleeping here that she knew she was sleeping here and I just-"

Laughing at Po's awkward run-on speech, the snake said, "Po, calm down. I know what you meant," she shot a glance at Tigress, who was still perched above the doorway, "Now, how's about you stop rambling and actually see how Rui is doing?"

"Huh-OH! Right, right!" With that, the giant panda ambled over to the bed, oblivious to the tiger dropping silently down behind him and bolting out the door.

Kneeling down so that he was level with her, Po asked, "Good morning Rui. Did you sleep well?"

Rui, who had been suppressing a grin at Tigress' antics, retreated back into her shell and mumbled, "Fine."

Not at all put off by the cold shoulder, the Dragon Warrior went on, "That's good to hear. Listen, as soon as we're done greeting Master Shifu, I'll take you down to the kitchen for breakfast, ok?"

In answer, Rui's stomach growled.

"Great!" Po responded with his usual enthusiasm.

"Rui," Viper asked, "Would you like to come and greet Master Shifu with us?"

After a second of hesitation, the two kung fu masters received a stiff nod.

"Awesome! Let's go!" Po yelled before scooping the cub up and placing her on his left shoulder before she could protest.

The strange duo ducked out of Rui's room, with Viper right behind them, just as Shifu arrived at the end of the hall. At the sight of him, the snake moved quickly to her position, as Po moved into his.

With only a raised eyebrow to show that he had seen them, Shifu tapped his staff twice against the floor.

In a unison that could only come from years of practice, Tigress, Monkey, Crane, and Mantis all popped out of their respected room to join their comrades, and said in chorus, "Good morning Master!"

Staff behind his back as he walked down the hall, Shifu responded, "Good morning students. It's good to see you all up bright and early," he stopped in front of Po, "Especially you Po, given you're record for getting out of bed on time."

Po chuckled somewhat nervously at the mention of his sleeping habit.

Craning his neck back in order to see the cub on Po's shoulder, Shifu added, "And it's good to see our guest up and about as well, heh heh, in a matter of speaking. Good morning, Rui, and how are you today?"

The little girl clung to the panda's head, and said, "Fine."

Smiling, Shifu replied, "That's good to hear. It can be very scary sleeping in a new place for the first time, especially alone, but I'm glad to know that it didn't bother you."

Rui shot a quick glance at Tigress, who looked right back at her, but neither said a word.

The red panda saw Rui's eyes move to his oldest student behind him, but decided not to mention it at the time. Clearing his throat, Shifu turned and made his way back down the hallway, all the while saying, "Now then. Students, today we will resume your usual training. I gave you a break yesterday because of the village raid, and to give both Rui and Tigress a chance to recuperate, after their little walk through the rain, but that ends today." Shifu kept walking out and around the corner of the hallway, and eventually out of the dorm altogether, with his students and guest in tow.

Not bothering to turn around as the group made its way down the stone step path, the Master continued, "After we all have breakfast, Monkey, I want you to run around the palace twenty times without touching the ground. Crane, while he runs you will attack him while doing thirty laps yourself. Make sure you finish them at the same time he does. Viper, I want you in the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors. Mantis, the Field of Fiery Death. Po, Tigress, you two will spar eachother in the courtyard. Any questions."

Po had a question, but he was too amped/petrified at the idea of him and Tigress sparing. He was still aching from the last beating she had given after he tried taking her rice.

Fortunately, Tigress asked the question for him.

"Excuse me, Shifu, but what will Rui be doing?"

Shifu's fabled ears twitched at this question, and after a moment's thought decided, "There is no children's class today, so Miss Rui may sit quietly on the steps and watch you and Po."

Using her bow to hide her smile, Tigress said, "Yes Master."

"Right then. You all have your assignments. As soon as breakfast is over, get to work."

He was rewarded with a chorus of, "Yes Master!"

* * *

><p>"Come on, Po! You're barely even trying!" Tigress growled as she looked across the courtyard at her sparring partner.<p>

In the meantime, said partner was doubled over and acting like he had just been forced to run up the palace steps. Twice.

"_Haa-haa_-sorry-_haa_-Ti-Tigress-_gah_-but-_haa_-but it's kinda hard-_haa_-to-to fight without-_haa_-hoo boy-inspir-inspiration…oh gods-_haa_-I'm dying…." The Dragon Warrior panted.

The tiger's eye twitched, in a way very similar to her adopted father.

"Inspiration? Since when do you need inspiration to train? The need to get stronger, and as you would say, 'more awesome' should be more than enough inspiration to work hard!" Tigress said before returning to her fighting stance, "Now, get serious, and fight me!"

Po cracked his back and got into his own fighting stance, muttering, "'Get serious', she says," aloud he yells, "If you ask me, you're a little too serious today! If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were showing off for Rui!" he jerked his thumb over to where the cub was sitting on the Training Hall steps, watching the two masters spar.

Startled by the accusation, Tigress froze, before standing all the way up and crossing her arms. "Wha-what! That's ridiculous! I am a highly trained kung fu master! I have saved entire villages, countless times! I have no need to show off!"

The panda, with a smug look on his face, nodded as he slowly began to circle around the distracted tiger, "Yeah, you're right. You are pretty awesome. Everyone knows that, and that's why everybody likes and respects you. Well, everyone except Rui."

Ears twitching, Tigress turned to face the Dragon Warrior with a murderous look on her face, "Watch it, Po, or else I'll toss you down the stairs. Again!"

Flashing back to the incident from yesterday, Po quickly backtracked, both verbally and physically.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Calm down I was just kidding! I'm sure Rui respects you just as much as I do! Definitely! Right, Rui?" he asked the cub.

The little girl looked back and forth between the two masters for a minute before finally stating, "I definitely respect her more than I respect you."

"See. She respects you more than-HEY! Wait a minute! What do you mean more than you respect me! Don't you know that the Dragon Warrior is one of the coolest warriors in the history of warriors!" the fan boy yelled.

Resting her head on her hand, Rui calmly replied, "Yes, I do. I heard that the Dragon Warrior single handedly defeated Tai Lung."

"That's right!" Po agreed.

"That he also defeated Lord Shen and destroyed his entire fleet of ships armed with his unstoppable weapons."

"Unstoppable against anything except the Dragon Warrior!" the panda crowed.

"And that he is a warrior with a heart of gold."

"Totally!"

"After hearing stories like that, it'd be hard not to respect the Dragon Warrior."

"EXACTLY!"

"That being said, I still don't see how you're the Dragon Warrior."

"YEA-say what now?" Po was stunned silent.

A silence that didn't last longer than three seconds.

"What do you mean you don't think I'm the Dragon Warrior!" he yelled unbelievably.

Still sitting as cool as a cucumber, Rui stated, "Since I got here, all I've seen you do is struggle up a stair case, fail miserably at an obstacle course, and have your tail handed to you by Tigress." Almost blushing, the cub looked away and mumbled, "Although you do make a great bowl of noodles."

Tigress laughed, "Ha ha! You were saying Po?"

Looking more and more dejected with each passing phrase, the panda quickly perked up and said, "Heh, well, at least she likes my cooking. And as for the 'tail handing' part, that's about to change!" Bouncing in place now, Po remarked, "Try not to blink little cub! Cuz it's about to get all awesome up in here! HOO-WAH!"

Before either tiger could ask what he was talking about, or what he was saying for that matter, the Dragon Warrior dropped into his fighting stance before charging at Tigress like a bull.

Stunned for only a split second, the kung fu master smirked as she also ran full tilt towards her opponent, before leaping over him at the last moment.

At the peak of her jump, Tigress twisted in midair, grabbed Po's shoulders and delivered a double-legged kick straight into his back, sending him flying through the air until he collided with the wall on the other side of the courtyard.

However, between the force of the tiger's kick and Po's general…softness, the panda bounced off the wall like the Adversary and sailed straight back at Tigress, ready to land a punch.

But Tigress was ready for this, and met his attack with a smirk.

Just before the black and white fur ball reached his target, the kung fu master crouched down and caught him with one paw on his shoulder and the other gripping his patch-worked pants.

Using his own momentum, Tigress spun him around in midair before she kicked him directly in the stomach and sent him soaring into the sky. He flew so high that at one point he became nothing more than a black speck.

As soon as it became apparent that he was descending, Tigress bolted over to the nearest wall, scaled it, and lept up towards to the center of the courtyard. She reached it at the same time as Po and tried to give him another kick.

But the Dragon Warrior had expected this and was prepared.

As she swung her leg at his middle, he grabbed it and spun around himself, taking Tigress with him.

When he had gained enough speed, he let go of her leg and sent her flying towards one of the pillars next to the stairs where Rui sat.

Twisting around like only a cat could, the master landed with all four paws against the pillar, before dropping down onto the ground.

Not wasting a second, Tigress spun around and made a beeline for Po's landing spot.

Reaching him with a roar, the two warriors began throwing flurries of punches and kicks at one another, each so fast that only a master could have kept up them.

Staying mostly on the ground, both fighters circled around the courtyard, moving so gracefully and smoothly that one would have thought that they were performing a coordinated dance.

This went on for several minutes before Po cried "Enough!" and tried to finish the fight by wrapping Tigress in a bear hug when her back was turned, and forcing her to summit.

However, Tigress spun back around just as Po locked his arms around her, causing the two masters to stand face to face with eachother.

If it had been any other opponent, the South China tiger would have been out of the simple hold in a heartbeat.

But…

With her face almost touching his, Tigress found herself unable to move.

And she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to, either.

The two masters stood there for what seemed to them an eternity, just silently staring into each other's eyes.

They probably would have stood there all day if the mid-morning gong hadn't sounded with a reverberating "bonng".

Startled out of their silence, Po released Tigress and the two hurriedly stepped away from eachother.

"Well-uh-" Po rambled as he scratched his head.

"That's enough sparring for one day," Tigress continued, not looking at her sparring partner.

"Agreed," the panda replied, for once not having anything to add.

After a minute of just standing there, Po said, "I'm ah…I'm-going to get started on-on lunch."

Still not looking at him, Tigress answered, "Good…good...yo-you do that," to stunned to care that it was way to early for lunch.

As the Dragon Warrior ambled away, the leader of the Furious Five struggled to keep her mind in some resemblance of order.

'_What was…did he…did we-no…we didn't...did we?'_

She stayed like this for a while before she remembered that their fight had had an audience.

Clearing her throat, Tigress turned back to the Training Hall steps.

"So, Rui. What did you-HUH?"

Discovering that she was talking to an empty space on the steps, the tiger smacked herself on the forehead.

"Why is it…that every time I turn my back on this girl-_she_ _vanishes!_" she growled.

Taking a deep breath, Tigress walked over to the steps to begin tracking Rui down.

_Again._

Reaching the steps, Tigress noticed that the door to the Training Hall was opened a bit.

Just wide enough for a small cub to fit through.

Deciding that it was worth a shot, Tigress opened the door even further and stepped inside.

Before her were the pieces of training equipment that she and the rest of the five had used since they had each arrived at the Palace.

"Mantis and Viper aren't here…Shifu must have them doing something else…" Tigress thought aloud as she scanned the empty room for her charge.

She was just about to give up when she heard the sound of cloth rustling from somewhere on her left. Sighing with relief, the master walked over to one of the many weapons racks and peeked behind it.

Sure enough, she found a small cub crouching with her knees drawn up under her chin.

"There you are," Tigress chided, "Don't just leave like that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Rui ignored her and hugged her knees tighter.

Sighing once again, the older tiger leaned her back against the wall a few feet from the rack, and slid down to the floor with a thump.

"Any chance you'll tell me what you came in here for?"

Not really expecting an answer, Tigress was pleasantly surprised when a small voice said, "It-it was too hot out, so-so I came in to…cool off."

The master raised an eyebrow.

"So…. you're hiding behind a weapons rack because you were too hot?"

Glaring at Tigress, Rui replied, "That-that's right!"

Between the girl's obviously false excuse and the look on her face, Tigress couldn't help but chuckle.

A small growl came from the cub's throat. "What's so funny!"

Quieting herself, the older tiger said, "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to laugh at you. It's just that I haven't heard anything quite…like that, since Po realized that he was adopted," she chuckles softly again.

"Po's adopted?" Rui asked from behind the rack.

Clearing her throat and straightening her face, Tigress replied, "Yes. Mr. Ping took him in when he was just a baby."

Wide-eyed, the cub said, "Mr. Ping? From the noodle shop?"

The tiger nodded. "The very same."

"But he's a goose!"

"Uh huh."

"And he's a _panda_!" she cried, meaning Po.

"He is indeed."

"How could he not notice!"

Tigress had to think about how to explain that one.

"How do I explain this?" she mumbled before saying in a clearer voice, "Po's… kind of a simple guy. He sees things in a certain way.

To him… it didn't matter if his Dad didn't look like him or if he didn't look like his Dad. His Dad was Dad, and that's all that really mattered. In fact, he only realized that he was adopted recently."

Tigress smiled softly, "But despite the fact that he's adopted, he and his father still love eachother very deeply and both act as if nothing at all had changed. And in the end, I guess nothing did."

The two tigers sat in silence for a while, each with thoughts in her head.

The silence was broken when Rui mumbled, "So…even though they're not really related…they still love eachother?"

"That's right."

The silence returned as Rui seemed puzzled by this fact.

She soon spoke again, "But… I thought being adopted… was a bad thing…"

"What!" Tigress said in shock, "How can you say that! Getting adopted is a great thing!" her voice lowered, "It's all I ever wanted when I was your age…"

This caused the girl to lift her head off of where it had been sitting on her knees and whip it towards the master with a look of shock on her face.

"You were an orphan too?"

The older tiger nodded as she wrapped her arms around her own pulled up knees at the memory of those terrible days, "Yes. For as long as I could remember, I lived in a placed called Bao Gu Orphanage. I wanted nothing more to be adopted by parents who would love me…_sigh_-but that didn't seem likely given my…temper."

"Temper?"

Tigress nodded again.

"I had a hard time controlling my strength when I was little. I was constantly breaking things. When I did, I would get frustrated and break even more stuff. This made the other kids-heck; it made everyone, including the adults, scared of me. When they would run away from, I would get even angrier and things would just get worse!

It got so bad at one point, that the caretaker had no choice but to put me in a room with bars on the windows and locks on the doors!" Her fists clenched at the memories, but she took a deep breath, and calmed herself.

"They used to call me…the Monster of Bao Gu."

"Really?" Rui said, her voice sounding closer.

Turning her head, Tigress saw that the cub had indeed crawled out from behind the back of the weapons rack and was now standing next to it with a curious look on her face.

"So… what happened?" she asked cautiously.

Remembering what had occurred next, the master smiled softly.

"Well, apparently I had become such a problem that the old caretaker had to call in someone to try to calm me down. There was only one person who was willing to try; Master Shifu."

Rui cocked her head. "The guys with the big ears who kicked me at dinner?"

Struggling not to laugh at her description of the red panda, Tigress continued, "Yes-_haha_-that guy! He came to the orphanage one day and helped to me control my temper by teaching me how to play with dominoes."

Rui giggled. "Dominoes?"

"Laugh all you want," Tigress said, "But it was a lot harder than it looked. At first I would break a domino just by holding it in my hand," her eyes got softer, "But as the months went by I learned to control my strength, and eventually I was able to lay them down in complex patterns that would form a picture when I knocked them over. After that, the kids weren't afraid of me anymore."

She sighed, "But the visiting adults still were. They still wouldn't give me a chance. I thought I was going to stay in the orphanage forever."

"Did you?" the cub earnestly asked before correcting herself, "I mean-obviously not! Since you're here… and all…."

"Well, it turned out that there was an adult who was willing to adopt me," Tigress said with a smirk.

"Who?"

"Shifu," the tiger replied with a hint of pride, "He brought me here to the Jade Palace and taught me kung fu," she looked around the Training Hall wistfully, "And I've been here ever since."

After another minute of silence, Rui spoke up again.

"So…Shifu's…your father?" she asked tentatively.

A little surprised by the question, Tigress responded, "Uh…I guess. I've… never really thought of him as a-a father, just...as my master."

Rui answered with little more than an "Hmm" before the two descended into silence yet again.

During the break, the older tiger pondered over their discussion.

'_I can't believe I just told my life story to someone I've only known for _two days_!'_ Tigress thought, puzzled by her sudden need to share with the child.

"So adoption is a good thing?" Rui mumbled softly, "But then why…"

"Why what?" the master asked.

Realized that she had been heard, the cub backtracked, "Wha-uh-n-nothing!"

Staring at her, Tigress desperately wanted to find out what had been going through this girl's head, but a little voice inside of her own said that pushing now would be bad, and reluctantly decided not to.

Dropping the subject, the older tiger stood up, stretched, and said, "At any rate, I'm going to see if I can steal one of Monkey's almond cookies before I get back to training," offering her paw to the girl who was sitting on the floor, she asked, "Want to come?"

Rui stared at the paw for a moment before she grasped it and allowed herself to be pulled up. Paw in paw, the two tigers left the Training Hall and headed off towards the Palace kitchen.

And Monkey's cookies.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Dadada-that's it!_

_Not exactly my best chapter ever, but whatcha gonna do?_

_Hope you guys enjoyed it at least a little._

_Again; I apologize for the delay._

_If you think it's worth the trouble, please review.^^_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: I'M BACK BABY!_

_Who missed me?_

_No one?_

_You suck _

_Kidding! ^^_

_Great to be back, you guys, with new chapters and a new promise!_

_It's a bit late, but my New Years Resolution is to spend at least ONE HOUR every Staurday writing!_

_Hopefully this will mean more chapter updates._

_Hopefully..._

_Anyway, thanks for waiting!_

_Please R&R!_

* * *

><p>Chapter Nine<p>

As Tigress and Rui entered the hallway that connected to the kitchen, the older tiger heard the sound of someone chopping up food and suddenly remembered where Po was.

She paused mid-step for a moment before shaking her head and walking again.

'_What's the matter with me!'_ Tigress thought to herself, _'It's just Po!'_

Her mind flashes back to their spar in the courtyard.

And the embrace.

'_STOP IT! It wasn't an embrace! It was just…a poorly executed hold on Po's part!'_

'_Then why couldn't you break out of it?'_

'_I could have broken out! I was just about to break when…'_

"Why'd you stop?"

"What!" the master turned her head and looked down at the cub holding her paw.

Rui replied, "I said, why'd you stop walking?"

"Wha-oh!" looking around, Tigress realized that while she'd been mentally arguing with herself, she'd stopped just before she'd reached the kitchen door.

"Uh…no-nothing. It's nothing," she said as she mentally kicked herself before walking into the Palace kitchen.

As the two tigers entered, Tigress saw what she had expected to see: Po chopping up various vegetables for today's lunch, his back to them.

Hearing somebody entering the kitchen, the Dragon Warrior turned to see who it was, saying as he turned, "Lunch isn't quite ready ye-up!"

At seeing Tigress, Po immediately froze up before looking around at everything but her.

Unconsciously, Tigress did the same.

As before, the two of them would have stayed like this forever until a young voice said, "Whatcha cooking?"

Snapping out of his…whatever it was, Po said, "Huh-OH! Right, lunch! Well Rui, today I'm making stir-fry!"

"Really?"

"Yup!"

"What are you using, Po?" Tigress asked, also returning to reality.

Not skipping a beat, the giant panda replied, "Celery, bok choy, white radishes, and tofu!" turning to the cub standing next to Tigress, Po asked, "Hey Rui, is there anything else you want me to add? What do you like with your stir-fry?"

Looking down slightly, Rui mumbled, "I don't know…"

Confused, Po said, "You don't know?"

"…I've never had stir-fry…"

"Oh, that explains it! You can't know unless you've-WHAT!" Po gawks with a disbelieving look on his face, "You're Chinese and you've never had stir-fry! That's crazy! That's like me saying 'I'm a panda who's never had bamboo' and I've have!" he looks to the side and mumbles, "Granted, it was actually bamboo furniture, but still!"

Rui kept her head down and said nothing.

Jumping in, Tigress said, "Well then it's a good thing that Po's making stir-fry for lunch, isn't it?"

Seeing where she was going, the panda replied, "That's right and it's going to be the most awesome pan of stir-fry I have ever created!"

"Smells like it's also going to be the most burned pan of stir-fry you've ever created," Tigress said.

"What!" Po cried, turning around to save his dish before noticing that none of the ingredients in the wok were burning.

And that he hadn't even started the fire yet.

Hearing two tigers giggling at him…. well, one was giggling, the other was more like a restrained chuckle, the Dragon Warrior turned back around with a smile on his face and said, "Ha ha ha, good one Tigress! You got me!"

The master smiled smugly.

Rubbing his hands together, Po continued, "And as much as I'd love to get back at you, you've just reminded me that I need to finish making lunch." With that, the giant panda turned his back to Tigress and Rui and once again began chopping up the ingredients set before him.

As he chopped, and apparently sampled some of the goods, the Dragon Warrior talked over his shoulder, "So-_munch munch_-what brings you two_-munch munch-_to the kitchen?"

Remembering why she was there in the first place, Tigress walked Rui over to the corner where Monkey hid his stash and replied, "I promised Rui a few of Monkey's almond cookies."

Po froze for an instant before continuing to chop, "Ruh-_gulp_-really?"

"That's right," she replies before picking Rui up by the waist and holding her up.

"They're in the hanging basket. Can you reach them?" she said to the cub.

Reaching for the lip of the basket, Rui sticks her hand inside before pulling the edge down and looking inside.

Twisting her head to look at Tigress she said, "There aren't any cookies in here."

"What? That's impossible! I saw Monkey put two-dozen in here just the other day! There's no way he could've-"

"_Munch munch"_

Stopping at the sound, Tigress put Rui on the ground before turning to glare at Po's back with her arms akimbo.

Sensing danger, Po froze.

Crossing her arms, the master said, "Po."

The panda swallows, loud and hard.

"_Po_," she practically growls.

Sending a quick prayer to any god who would listen, Po looked over his shoulder and said, "Ye-yes?"

"What happen to Monkey's cookies?"

"Uhhh…"

"Well?"

"Wha-what are you looking at me for? Wuzzent me," he replied, eyes shifting from left to right and trying to play it cool.

"Oh really?" Tigress said with a dangerous smile, "Then why, exactly, is there an almond on your cheek?"

Po grabs at his face with his paws, "There can't be, I was careful not to-oops!"

"Ah-ha! So you did eat them!" she accused.

Facing her full on, the Dragon Warrior tried to explain, "Not-not all of them! Just…the ones he hadn't eaten yet…"

"Pretty sure that counts as all of them," Rui jumped in.

Tigress looked like she was about to growl at Po. Or lunge.

Or both.

Raising his hands defensively, Po said, "Okay okay! I ate them! I'm sorry! I'll make more, I swear!"

"Oh yes you will! _Right now!_" Tigress growled, stabbing her finger at the floor for emphasis.

Looking down heartened, Po moaned, "'Right now'? As in, _right now_ right now?"

"Yes!"

"Buh-but-but what about lunch?"

Crossing her arms again, Tigress replied, "Lunch isn't due for at least another hour, which gives you _plenty_ of time to start a new batch of cookies."

Po stutters a few more hard to understand words before he finally sighed in defeat.

"Fine…I'll bake the cookies now…"

"Good," Tigress stated in triumph.

"-But you two have to help me!"

""WHAT!"" the two tigers exclaim.

"Why do we have to help? You're the one who ate the cookies!" Rui argued.

Smiling deviously, Po said, "True, but if you help me, I'll be able to finish them faster."

"And if we don't?" Tigress asked.

"Then I'll tell Monkey you were going to eat his cookies!" the panda retorted smugly.

"Then we'll tell Monkey that you actually _did_ eat his cookies," Rui stated, her arms crossed, "And I think he'll care more about that then us just _trying_ to eat his cookies, don't cha think?"

Po's mouth hung open as Tigress added, "She has a point, oh great _Dragon Warrior._"

At that, Po hung his head and pouted in the way that only he and three year olds who have been refused their favorite dessert can.

After a while, he picked his head up and said to Rui, "I'll let you lick the bowl."

Cocking her head, the cub asked, "Why would I want to lick the bowl?"

"Why would you-geez!" Po face palmed himself, "You've never had stir-fry, don't know why you would want to lick a cookie dough bowl, uhhhh," he sways and catches himself with the counter, "Oh gods…I think-I think I'm gonna faint…."

"Po," Tigress called.

"The room is spinning around!"

"Po!"

"Every-everything's going dark!"

"_Po!"_

"Good-bye, cruel wor-"

"_**PO!"**_

"Yes?" he said, snapping out of his act for a second.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Tigress continues, "If we agree to help you with the cookies, will you stop being so melodramatic?"

"Yes," he replied as he stood up, "But one question."

"_Sigh_- yes?"

"What's melodramatic?"

One would think that after becoming the Dragon Warrior, Po would be able to dodge any kind of attack.

Apparently this excludes woks aimed directly at his forehead thrown from close range.

* * *

><p>"How-<em>haa haa<em>-am I doing?"

"Harder. You have-_haa_-have to go harder."

"You-_haa_-you sure?"

"Yes!"

"But-haa-but, if I go-_haa_-any-_haa_-harder, something's gonna-_haa_-gonna break!"

"Keep going! You're-you're almost there!"

"But-but-!"

"Don't worry-_haa_-that's hard wood! It's not gonna-gonna break anytime time soon!"

"I-_haa_-I think I'm-_haa_-almost there!"

"You are! Keep going! Go-go-go-gooooo!"

SNAP!

"Awww, Tigress you broke my favorite spoon!" Po pouted.

Glaring, Tigress retorted, "I'm sorry, but you told me to stir the cookie dough harder and that's what I was doing."

"Is cookie dough supposed to be that thick?" Rui said.

"No, it is not," Tigress replied, "But _somebody_ decided to drink half the milk!"

"I wanted to make sure it was good," Po defended, "Anyway, the dough is done now, so we can make the cookies." He pulls out a flat metal pan and places it on the counter. Reaching into a nearby cupboard, the Dragon Warrior brings out a small jar filled with an amber liquid and pours a bit of it onto the pan, tilting the pan this way and that to spread the liquid around.

Rui peeked over the counter, trying to see what he is doing.

"What's that stuff?" she asked

Smiling, Po replied, "This is cooking oil. It's very important stuff."

The cub cocks her head. "Why?"

Putting the pan back on the counter, Po said, "Well, because if I didn't put this on the pan, the cookies would stick to it. And if they stuck to it we would be able to ea-_I mean_, put them back in Monkey's basket. And when he found that he didn't have any cookies, he'd get mad!"

He started to freak out.

"And when Monkey gets mad, he starts pulling pranks! And when he starts pulling pranks, you suddenly wake up in the villager square wearing nothing but the fur on your back and a sign that says 'I'm a cookie thief!' And when you wake up in the villa-"

"PO!" Tigress exclaimed.

"-WHAT!"

"Breathe."

"Huh-oh!" he chuckled, "Sorry, gotta little-_gulp_-carried away," he shook his head and said to Rui, "Anyway, this stuff keeps the cookies from sticking to the tray."

"Got it," the cub responded. To Tigress she said, "Does he freak out like that a lot?"

Without skipping a beat, the master replied, "Yes."

"Ignoring you," Po stated before continuing to make the almond cookies.

Grabbing another spoon, the panda expertly took dollop after dollop of dough out of the bowl and placed them on the tray. Within a minute, there were twenty-four evenly spaced gobs of almond cookie dough on the pan, ready to be baked.

Moving away from the counter, Po placed the bowl and spoon on the table.

Then, just as easily as he had placed the cookie dough, the panda picked Rui up and sat her down on the table right next to the bowl.

Smiling his trademark smile, Po said, "And now for the best part of making cookies: cleaning the cookie bowl!" He reached a hand towards the bowl.

"I'll start-OW!" quick as lighting, Tigress grabbed the broken spoon handle and rapped Po on the knuckles.

"_Ohhhh no! _You're not touching that bowl until Rui is done."

Rubbing his knuckles, the Dragon Warrior pouted.

"Just a little lick?"

Tigress was adamant.

"No way. If I let you so much as touch the dough, there won't be any for her!"

Po opened his mouth to argue, thought about what she said, closed his mouth, shrugged and said with a sheepish grin, "Yeah ha ha, you're probably right."

"Not 'probably', I _am_ right and you know it!" the tiger said with a smile of her own.

The giant panda was about to respond when-

"_Buurrp!"_

Both jumping slightly at the belch, the two masters turned to find that Rui had already eaten all of the remaining cookie dough and had just finished licking it clean.

Running her tongue over her lips, the cub beamed, "I like cleaning the cookie bowl!"

Unfazed, Po replied, "Who doesn't?"

Without skipping a beat, Tigress added, "Crazy people."

"Crazy people so crazy that other crazy people think they're crazy!" Rui said.

"Exactly!" Po nodded sagely.

"But now we have a new problem," the older tiger said seriously.

""What's that?"" the other two ask.

"Somebody needs another bath," she continued with a smirk.

Po started looking at himself in disbelief, "No way, I just took a bath yesterday! I couldn't possibly-"

"Not you, Po!" Tigress cuts in.

"Then who-oh!" the spark of realization lit in his eyes as Po took a good look at Rui.

Apparently while trying to get every last spot of cookie dough, the little girl stuck her head into the bowl into and ended up getting every last spot of dough onto her face.

And the top of her head.

And her arms.

And her clothes.

Glancing down at herself, Rui saw where this was going and immediately tried to scramble off the table and out the door.

She was quick.

Sadly for her, Tigress was quicker.

"Oh no you don't! You're getting another bath, right now," the older tiger smirked as she held the cub by the scruff of her neck.

Crossing her arms and legs while she hung from Tigress's grasp, Rui huffed.

Tossing her lightly over her shoulder, the master said to Po, "I'm going to clean this one up while you finish lunch.

Giving her a thumbs-up, Po replied, "You got it!" as Tigress began to leave the kitchen.

"Oh, and Po?"

"Yeah?"

She smiled slyly, "Make sure all twenty-four cookies make it into the basket."

"Wha-what? That-that's crazy-I would never….yeah, okay…" he agreed gloomily.

Smiling, Tigress carried her charge to the Palace bath to get cleaned up.

Again.

* * *

><p><em>AN: Not one of my best chapters, but I'm a bit rusty._

_Whatcha gonna do?_

_On a side note, I'd like to thank everybody who noticed that someone, who shall rename nameless *glares*, copied and pasted one of my stories as his own!_

_Thank you for telling me! ^^_

_Please R&R!_


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